Marrow (A Sort of Update)

56 poems into my manuscript and I'm back to Day One. On Day One, I was enrolled in the workshop where the project was born.  A. Van Jordan, our instructor, had us select a historic event and try writing about it.  Often, okay it is the case for me and I can only speak for [...]

On the Selling of Souls, or Eff the Man

When I was a kid I loved to hear my dad tell stories.  First of all, he's a consummate storyteller--animations and all--and secondly he's a man with many stories thanks to his life experiences.  One of my favorites was when he would talk of people who were rumored to have "sold their souls to the [...]

Conversations That Happen In My Head #3

1.  If I was better at ass-kissing I'd likely be further in life.   But alas, I never mastered the art and good karma has always made me tingly and blush. 2.  Headache, you slay me.  Now go away--my amusement at your attempts to distract me has worn off. 3.  Kid, you're gonna be great--my message [...]

Conversations That Happen in My Head #2

Been writing a lot this first part of the week and this soundtrack from Kwame Dawes has been in my head most of that time thanks to my writer-friend Yao: MEMOS TO POETS a 'twitter' journey #1 Banned: The metaphorical heart. ”Heartburn” is allowed, however. ”Heartache” too, only if a coronary is involved. #2 The [...]

Monthly Meter: July

fellowship/publication submissions: 0 Momentum is a terrible thing to waste. fellowship/publication acceptances: 0 "Sometimes this happens. It means nothing. So pull the shadows around you like a puff and get back to work. More opportunities scramble forth, trailing their long elegant heels of hot air with alice blue eyes, crinkled as if at the most [...]

Confusing the Tongues

“every man prays in his own tongue and there is no language that god doesn’t understand.” Duke Ellington

Fever

Every woman begins as weather, sips slow thunder, knows her hips.  Every woman harbors a chaos, can wait for it, straddling a fever. from "5 p.m., Tuesday, August 23, 2005" by Patricia Smith Blood Dazzler  Copyright © 2008 Coffee House Press

We all fight our own wars.

...and sometimes we make it through the mayhem and then the wreckage, through no fault of our own.  I love this poem.   Facing It Yusef Komunyakaa   My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite. I said I wouldn't dammit: No tears. I'm stone. I'm flesh. My clouded reflection eyes me like a [...]

Monthly Meter: June

fellowship/publication submissions: 4 fellowship/publication acceptances: 1 fellowship/publication rejections: 3 (2 said "We are interested in seeing more of your work" which validates me in ways I shouldn't need nor admit.) books: Native Guard by Natasha Tretheway (our new poet laureate) Secret Shame: Acne scars on my cheeks.  Yes, I am that vain. Mantra of the Moment: [...]