“Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long.” –Walker Evans (after the Cantor Arts Exhibit, Stanford University) The small town windswept streets, their flophouses and weatherworn sharecropper porches, hold the stare and want and will of those who people them. The speech of image, already past tense in the snap of […]
Poetry Corner: Johanna Ely “How to Celebrate my Life (El Dia de los Muertos)”
The first year after I die, celebrate my life on my birthday. (El Dia de los Muertos) Set up an altar in the living room, under the Rivera painting of the woman embracing the white calla lilies. Put everything on that heavy carved wooden table next to the window. Light a church candle with […]
Poetry Corner: Mary Susan Gast “Halloween”
Impertinently knocking on death’s door riding the rafts of fantasy darting as night melds with day between the darkness and the light The youngest and most gleeful among us tear through the quiet streets a tumble of magpies, a jabber of blackbirds, rapt and wrapped in fabrics diaphonous, wooly, or diabolical playing gap-toothed grinning tag […]
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 […]
Poetry Corner: James Garrett “Eyes Right”
Eyes snapped right, As they marched in review. Once many more, Now very few. A paunch on a belly, Once hard and flat. Once young and smooth, For all to look at. Now passed on the street, Seen in the day. Read in their eyes, See what they say. They speak of times, Both near […]
Poetry Corner: James Garrett “Old, Gnarled Tree”
There’s a gnarled, old, oak tree, All wrinkled with age. It’s seen the warm sunlight, And the cold winter’s rage. It’s been home to young families, Both below and on top. The wind’s song in its branches, Will not ever stop. Its branches are worn deep, By the ropes of an old swing, As it […]
Poetry Corner: Bud Light “A Salute to the Season”
Ghosts and goblins all around Everybody’s going underground; Chaos in the world abounds People jump at every sound Poltergeists in every room Prophesize impending doom; Skeletons in all our clothes A universe in sad repose Life has reached a frantic pace Everybody needs their space; Pollution causes trees to wilt While nations justify their guilt […]
Poetry Corner: James Garrett “Cuddly Weather”
Night closes in. Doves have fed among the rocks. Water glistens in the distance. Tiny whitecaps rise and fall. Shadows stretch from shore to shore. Life ritually settles. A quiet time drops slowly. Calmness enfolds us all. A tugboat muscles its way, Pushing water aside in its journey. Long rays of light, Signal end of […]
Poetry Corner: James Garrett “House”
House of stone, House of memories, Each living alone. Ghosts with love, Ghosts with a curse, Ghosts which wander, Which is worse? Blossoms in the orchard, Blossoms in the womb, Petals fall, Filled is the tomb. Fertile soil, Once old, now new. Old views seen again, In eyes of young two. James M. Garrett has […]
Poetry Corner: James Garrett “Heidi, Our Dog”
You’ve warmed our feet with your belly, On cold nights near and far. Seen sights that we’ve seen, And traveled miles in our car. You’ve warned us, too, of danger, On long walks through the night, And frightened off a stranger, With the presence of your bite. The tags on your collar tinkle, As you […]