April 30th Poem

[expired]

April 29th Poem

[bye]

April 28th Poem

[see ya]

April 27th Poem

[expired]

April 26th Poem

[thanksbye]

thank you!

I'd like to say a sincere thank you to everyone who has donated to the fundraising page for my writing residency at the Vermont Studio Center.  I've been touched by the donations and also by the support of friends who've shared my page and those who have cheered me on (many of them for many years).

"So shines a good deed in a weary world . . ."  (Am I Wonka or Charlie?  Both, I guess.)

Thank you.

April 25th poem

[poof!]

April 24th poem

[later!]

April 23rd Poem

[closed for maintenance]

April 22nd Poem

[expired]

April 21st Poem

[poof]

April 20th Poem

[expired]

April 19th poem

[thanks for playing]

Thanks, NaPoWriMo!

The founder of National Poetry Writing Month, poet Maureen Thorson, listed my blog as today's featured NaPoWriMo blog.  Wow-- thank you!

And thanks to Jennifer Knox, guest blogger at the Best American Poetry blog, for listing my April 17th poem over there, as well.  Wow again!

April 18th poem

[goodbye]

April 17th poem

[closed for processing]

April 16th poem

[byethanks]

April 15th poem

[expired]

April 14th poem

[we value your patronage]

April 13th poem

[y'all come back now]

April 12th poem

[expired]

I Am Pleased to Introduce My Brand

Hello, friends.  So, my good news is that a small Brooklyn press has expressed interest in publishing my first full-length book, tentatively titled How We Were Strangers.   I am currently working with an editor to revise and expand a manuscript of short lyrical prose pieces that exist somewhere at the intersection of prose poems, short short stories, and lyrical essays.  We're calling them lyrical shorts.  This is indeed a happy thing.  My other good news is that my four-week residency is coming up at the Vermont Studio Center, at which I hope to make headway on those revisions, as well as do some writing toward a second book. 


If you are able to help out, here is my indiegogo fundraising page to help raise money for my residency.  If you are not able to contribute money, I am also accepting contributions of friendship and support and good vibes my way, which some of you have long given me, unasked.  Thank you.  For real.   


Here is the first piece in what I hope will be my first full-length book:


I Am Pleased to Introduce My Brand

Sometimes you can help someone else through by plucking at the air around them until they feel revived.  The final step, though, is yours alone.  You may discover that no one appreciates the grace of a skateboarder quite like you do.  That your secret desire is to appear in a poster in the subway wearing green sequined underwear and own it.  We all need time alone before returning to the marketplace with words and gestures that others mirror back to us.  Some need more time than others, which is both blessing and curse.  Think Spiderman.  Think Witch of Blackbird Pond.  Most things happen at dusk.    Sometimes the trees will call you up a hill, particles slowing then turning counter-clockwise.  One.  Two.  Three.  When you let the drawing happen, that’s your brand right there.  A voice in your head like from a creepy ‘70s movie about kids who might be possessed or maybe were born that way.  Literal woods.  Literal dusk.  

April 11th poem

[draft under reconstruction]

April 10th poem

[goodbye, goodbye]

April 9th poem

[expired]

April 8th poem

[poof]

April 7th poem

[adios]

April 6th poem

[thank you thank you]

April 5th poem

[goodbye]

April 4th poem

[I will leave this one up.  My gift to you, with thanks.]




Transformation Is Never Easy 

I come from a people who are fond of saying things

like, "Your face is always changing throughout your lifetime.

Indeed, your looks can change from one day to the next."

So, that partly explains that.  This morning it was knocking

that woke me, and the options were (1) ghosts, (2) baby,

(3) boyfriend.  But I was alone by then and it was just an open

window in the next room sucking the door shut and shut

and partly open again.  Even if you hate the word "gift" as a verb,

I gift you this tree of tiny white blossoms out my window.  It's

making my eyes itch.  I gift you the idling truck sound,

how traffic is like the ocean until it isn't.  I gift you this portrait

of my face and its bird-eyed, good humored scowl, the way

it's always changing, having never learned to settle down.

Napowrimo-ing Friends

Here are links to amazing poems by two friends who are also writing a poem a day in April, the lovely and wondrous Annmarie O'Connell and Karen Dietrich.

Also, many thanks to Best American Poetry's guest blogger Jennifer L. Knox for including my April 3rd poem on the BAP blog!

April 3rd poem

[thank you for playing]

April 2nd poem

[see you next year!]

April 1st poem

[poof!]

Napowrimo!

It's National Poetry Month, and also National Poetry Writing Month.  Founded in 2003 by Maureen Thorson, Napowrimo challenges us (invites us?) to join a community of poets in writing a poem a day in April.  This is my third year doing it.

Thorson is providing optional prompts on the Napowrimo website.  The first prompt was to write a carpe diem poem, which I sort of (maybe?) did for my April 1st poem.

Here goes . . .  Happy April!