“Balance is a survival skill you must master” our exercise teacher repeatedly reminds us- “If you fall and hurt yourself it will be the beginning of the end,” and so we try to mimic her- like twenty old cranes, heads crowned with white feathers, we practice daily in the school gym, determined to balance on […]
Poetry Corner: Johanna Ely “Spring Rain”
The noisy birds Hide in gauzy layers Of morning mist Chatter among themselves Like gossiping neighbors Heady with the prospect Of coming rain The pattering down Sound Of dry soil Made thick Muddy Fertile The sudden softening Of hard winter twigs Finally able to Bend and give At last rounded and formed By wet clay […]
Poetry Corner: Johanna Ely “How to Build a Wall”
At first, there is only me, but then I grab the hand of the young Mexican boy who walks his tiny chihuahua past my house at the same time every day, and he in turn shyly takes the hand of the middle-aged Chinese woman who does the alterations at the dry cleaners, who quietly holds […]
Poetry Corner: Johanna Ely “How the Dream Comes”
It doesn’t matter how the dream comes, just that it comes, and it always does. Poverty, heartbreak, or abuse might defer it, but it still finds a way to slip inside you and begin its song. Sometimes it first appears when you’re a little girl, maybe five or six years old. You see a bird, […]
Poetry Corner: Johanna Ely “Prayer”
To whom it may concern: I have sent you a message on this cold, forsaken night, an invocation written on the tails of shooting stars to wrap your flame around this dark hull of earth and ignite the dormant seed within. Let the heat of love burn away all winter’s horrors- turn dead leaves into […]
Poetry Corner: Johanna Ely “The Mystery”
Night after night I dream about the mystery, call it unnamed into my heart, let it fall like rain behind my eyelids. I wake up dripping with sweat but remember nothing. The mystery is there like certain poems I never quite understand or the feeling of anxiety, my breath held in, instead of released. It […]
Poetry Corner: Johanna Ely “The Butterfly”
This morning the rain is coming, the sky is the grey of a dove’s breast, and the old rosebush quivers in the breeze. It has seen many winters and for weeks, has sprouted rose hip berries, persimmon colored, announcing autumn. Yet, this very second it calls my attention, for alighted on one stem three white […]
Poetry Corner: Johanna Ely “Preparing for winter”
In late October the afternoon sun settles close to the horizon, but still warms the skin. A clear blue sky holds no premonition of what must come next. Only the light weakens, gives us a subtle warning, while shadows grow into long fingers that reach out and touch the circadian self, affirm our uneasiness that […]
Deadline for 2017 Benicia Love Poetry Contest announced
It’s time to submit that special love poem to the 2017 Benicia Love Poetry Contest! But why should I submit?! 1. This year, the prize money has been doubled! The first place winner will be awarded $100. 2. If you are one of the winners, your poem will be published in the next Benicia First […]
Poetry Corner: Johanna Ely “Autumn Red”
In the trees all over town dozens of scarlet handkerchiefs wave farewell- that blazing autumn red how it flutters then drifts down into the beaks of migrating birds the nests of busy squirrels a color even brighter than the hummingbird’s flaming head or the shade of lipstick that I wore that fine October day when […]