Poem for Mother's Day

Coming in under the wire here... it's been a great weekend, culminating with my poetry reading with James Arthur at the IOTA Club & Cafe in Arlington, Virginia, hosted by Miles David Moore.

I read several motherhood-themed poems from my book, The Scabbard of Her Throat, in honor of Mother's Day. Here's one I didn't read. I hope you enjoy it!


ANOTHER MIRACLE

Mad God has water in his hands,
my daughter says, and he spills it

all over the street.  Her Noah's Ark
floats on linoleum and the animals

swim. We play flood all morning
as hills of snow thaw outside.

On Christmas Eve, we pilgrimage
to the remote land of the Craft Room,

retrieve Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus
from the displaced safety of the ark.

Desert sand transforms to Berber
and we descend arid mountains

as if they were mere flights of stairs.
Everywhere I look, another miracle

is happening. In her hands, the wise men
on their camels are taking flight.

The 2013 Big Poetry Giveaway -- Winners!

Thanks to Random.org, I chose two comments as winners of the books for the National Poetry Month Giveaway:

*  Leslie - won a copy of my new book, The Scabbard of Her Throat

* Allyson - won a copy of Bruce Snider's book, Paradise, Indiana

Thanks to the rest of you for your interest! Better luck next year!

National Poetry Month - Reading List Update

Here's what I've read so far:

* A Handful of Bees, by Dzvinia Orlowsky

* Crab Orchard Review, Winter/Spring 2012

* The White Words, by Baron Wormser
* American Poetry Review, Sept/Oct 2012
* Bone Pagoda, by Susan Tichy
* Gettysburg Review, Winter 2012

* The Makings of Happiness, by Ronald Wallace

* Field, Fall 2012

* China Cowboy, by Kim Gek Lin Short

* Border Crossing, 2012 issue

And I am currently reading Between Gods, by Donna Lewis Cowan. The following is from the sensual poem, "Broken Sonnet: Eve Upon Awakening":

You sleep, a shadow bent in careful candor

soft-grown among these chaoses of green,

and I awaken, my midnight visions mounting

the trees. Your fingers slip my hair; you wean

a decadence from my spring soul...

More Use-Less Stuff - April Edition

The great purge continues. My sisters were in town, so I took the opportunity to see if they needed anything that we were getting rid of. They took away a car filled with things we didn't need anymore:

* A small desk lamp
* Broken guitar
* Old Polly Pocket toy house
* Beer glasses
* Small food processor
* Mandoline
* Bunch of cassettes
* A few record albums
* Christmas decorations
* Camping chairs

I could probably list more, but you get the idea. I've got a stack of books slated to go to my uncle, and a stack of journals slated for my next get-together with some literary friends.

Whew. Decluttering is almost a full-time job!

What have you gotten rid of lately?

Update on What I've Read for National Poetry Month

Here's what I've read so far:

* A Handful of Bees, by Dzvinia Orlowsky

* Crab Orchard Review, Winter/Spring 2012

* The White Words, by Baron Wormser
* American Poetry Review, Sept/Oct 2012
* Bone Pagoda, by Susan Tichy
* Gettysburg Review, Winter 2012

And I am currently reading The Makings of Happiness, by Ronald Wallace. Here's a strong poem from the collection I just read this morning:


POET IN THE GOAT YARD

What am I doing
out here in the goat yard,
the red sun setting on the pasture,
this syringe in my hand full of Tylan
("for cattle and swine only,
has been fatal in equine uses"),
wondering whether a goat is more
like a cow or a pig or a horse?
I, who am so lavish with analogies,
who can so carelessly crossbreed
sun and blood or death and levity
or kids and kids, find myself
blind in the sweet eye of this alpine,
bleating for help. My daughter
clings to my shirt sleeves for assurance
as I lift the bright syringe,
a needle of health, I tell her,
a splinter of sun, thinking:
That language were so powerful, so dangerous!
Goat, I sing, be pig, be
cow: root and snort and wallow
from your snout to your curly tail;
bellow and ruminate and moo
down the length of your leathery hide;
make me good as my word.
I raise my dangerous hand
and it's done. The sun sets on
the goat yard, this she goat, and my daughter.
Who's to say song doesn't matter?
She falls to her small knees, bleating
her one song after another.

Honoring National Poetry Month - Reading Poetry Every Day!

While many of my friends are participating in National Poetry Writing Month (aka NaPoWriMo) -- writing a poem a day for the entire month -- at this point, I am taking a break from drafting for a little while.

So, to honor National Poetry Month, I am simply focusing on reading poetry every day.

Here's what I've read so far:

* A Handful of Bees, by Dzvinia Orlowsky

* Crab Orchard Review, Winter/Spring 2012

* The White Words, by Baron Wormser

And I am currently reading American Poetry Review, Sept/Oct 2012.

How are you celebrating?

Use-less Stuff - March edition

I haven't posted on the subject in a while, but that doesn't mean I haven't been getting rid of things! This past week:

*  Old birdcage
*  Cocktail shaker
*  Barware set
*  Old desk
*  Broken clock
*  Old radio
*  Hundreds of pages of old papers and brochures for tourist attractions we've been to or that we thought about going to at some point in the past 20 years
*  Old tear sheets of book reviews for books I want to read (I logged them onto my "wish-list" in Goodreads)

Whew. I might take a look through a box of old Christmas decorations that I didn't even realize existed in our basement until we moved some other boxes and saw it.

Spring is here and I have cleaning fever! Beekman's Antiques, ReFind, and Vienna Music Exchange are my new best friends.

If only the people on Craigslist were a bit more reliable...