Conversations that happen in my head v.1

"I think inspiration is given too much credit. It can only do so much—never any of the heavy lifting that’s required when crafting a poem. Inspiration is a lazy architect who gives you a blueprint with only the front door drawn, then snoozes on a hammock while you build the entire house."            (David Hernandez) Aww [...]

Stall **crickets**

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl Woman - Age 35 If you've ever checked out my Monthly Meter on here, you will see my stops and starts--lurching then full speed to a putt-putt and altogether stop.  35 was one of those times.  I point you to a post I wrote almost exactly a [...]

What is in the marrow is hard to take from the bone.

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl Woman - Age 34 When I headed to St. Louis for a 2 week writing workshop,  I had not written anything new in, probably, a year.  Acclimating to Baltimore, my new job were useful excuses for my "silence."   I was headed to Africa to teach when [...]

Fresh Out of Words

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl Woman - Age 31 When the things I wrote depressed me more than the things I wrote about, I stopped writing.  To call it writer's block would be inaccurate--I had plenty to say.  But it seemed to all be the same words; remix after remix after remix of [...]

Searching for Colon

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl Woman - Age 30 My trip to Ciudad Colon Costa Rica was my first trip abroad.  I was in residence at an artists' colony for two weeks.  The trip met all the criteria of a first trip: foreign and scary bugs, the airport pimp, the angel cabbie [...]

Maneater

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl Woman - Age 29 I have been accused of cutting men at the knees.  Frankly, running into a wall when you can already see it around the corner seems futile.  But maybe that's just me... And then there's that whole not wanting to feel like I did [...]

I wrote this when I was 28. Aww shizmishginet!

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl Woman - Age 28 Second round of the Just Poetry Grand Slam.  Money on the line.  She's months between lo_ers (replace the blank with an "s" or "v" because both apply--okay, I'm exaggerating a little but that's how I felt at the time).  The boys are taking [...]

I’ll bring the matches.

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl Woman - Age 27 My boy Solomon called me his "little Assata." "When I met you I thought you were Muslim; you always wear long skirts?" At the time we met, my appearance and attitude led to more than a few comments like that.  Frankly, it was [...]

moss

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl Woman - Age 26 moss... (because sometimes you need somewhere to rest between the rock and the hard place). moss was my first (and last) chapbook, an effort to launch my "writing" career.  I was fresh out of graduate school and idealistic about the writerly life that [...]

The Vine

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl Woman - Age 25 There comes a time when age really is nothing but a number; when you're just a description like "too young"  or "grown."  But at 25 it really is a distinct number.  That age can be one of those in-between times--not quite too young [...]