I haven’t discussed it so much on this blog because I have another one, an alter ego blog about all things family, but I am a fairly new mom. My daughter, now 8 months old, is getting to be a lot of fun. We’ve been reading aloud to her since she was an embryo. We’ve… Continue reading Twinkle, Twinkle / Tyger, Tyger
Category: Poetry
Drum
A few of my poems appear in print this month. Check out "Easy Chair" in 88 (their 5th one) and "Dream Manifesto" in the newest issue of Pleiades, if you get a chance. The poems will be in the print versions of these publications, not on their web sites.
Don’t Let Me Be Lonely
It’s a poem! It’s prose! It’s a new genre entirely in Claudia Rankine’s 4th book of poems, Don’t Let Me Be Lonely (Graywolf 2004). This book is riveting, both in terms of its content and its hybrid form. Part cultural critique, part memoir, this volume provides a seamless marriage of the personal and the political.… Continue reading Don’t Let Me Be Lonely
In a Dark Time
Disappointed about the election results this week and still feeling it. Here’s "In a Dark Time" by Roethke: In a dark time, the eye begins to see, I meet my shadow in the deepening shade; I hear my echo in the echoing wood– A lord of nature weeping to a tree. I live between the… Continue reading In a Dark Time
Open 5
Here are eleven new words for you to play with today. papaya clicks torso flipping lunch tear hum-colored pocket toothpick 12:40 poems If they capture your imagination, add your writing in the comments section below.
More about Berryman
Thanks for the interesting comments on John Berryman. Re: the observations by Christa and Jeff, I guess the photo (taken by my father) that I posted with A Berryman House provides a sense of desolation, devastation? Jeff’s analogy of the Turner painting is interesting in many ways. I’m thinking about the idea of this landscape… Continue reading More about Berryman
A Berryman House
Here’s my true confession for today. Way back when–almost 20 years ago–I admit that as a student I wrote some sonnets. That is what students do, right? Recently one called “A Berryman House” was published in an online journal. It’s strange to see your older work getting published. My friend Cynie Cory published American Girl… Continue reading A Berryman House
Look
Emily Dickinson starts one poem, “I’ll tell you how the Sun rose–/ A ribbon at a time–.” Probably for many of us, our visual perception of the world around us prevails over the other senses. At least it wouldn’t surprise me if that were true. I wonder if anyone remembers the Noon Quilt? I’m not… Continue reading Look
Artifacts
I think a big part of my motivation as a writer is that I love making things. Truth be told, I still dye Easter eggs every year (sometimes with a niece and nephew to legitimize the process, sometimes not), and it brings me joy. Artwork I’ve done at every age still hangs on the walls… Continue reading Artifacts
“blue: the sea, the sky, the unknown”
"blue: the sea, the sky, the unknown" a stone to pound open greenalmond husks — white inside the seed inside the seed finding the moon reflected in waves .. . another mystery: the deep bluesea made of clear water how our eyes create love by Meredith Stricker, from tenderness shore© Meredith Stricker
2 Dead Poets
The first poetry reading I ever attended was by the Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz . He died this week at the age of 93. Milosz read his poems in both Polish and English in a small chapel on my undergraduate college campus. At the end of the reading, he gave the audience a deep namaste-type… Continue reading 2 Dead Poets
Green Lizard, Green Broom
In science they call it camouflage, the ability to blend into one’s surroundings. To make one’s body invisible and yet there, alive, breathing. I have an idea, a project du jour that goes like this. Let’s collect green poems. We’ll make a collage out of them. I will get us started with a little bit… Continue reading Green Lizard, Green Broom
MoJo
Signifying in this instance: more on joy. This just in. The most recent online issue of the Mississippi Review is called The Happiness Issue. Jane Armstrong edits this edition. In her introduction, she confesses that she expected a very limited response. Instead she got inundated with poetry. When I posted the call for stories, essays,… Continue reading MoJo
Joy
Lucinda Williams does a great song called Joy. Do you know that one? This song, like most of Lucinda’s, is not gleeful. But she is a blues singer. One of my friends who teaches poetry workshops told me that he made an assignment once to a group of graduate students. Simply put, he asked everyone… Continue reading Joy
Pieces
Christa’s post has encouraged me to keep adding to my own story, so here’s a little more of it. After the 2 semesters of freshman English I was really at a loss. By hunting for orange spines or skinny books, I was often able to find some kind of poetry, but I didn’t know a… Continue reading Pieces