I can't keep not sleeping at night I can't keep letting all those open cupboard doors pull my shoulder blades I can't keep hoping for that miracle change black tea into coffee and cream I can't keep recycling those words said and unsaid replies and responses never meet resolution I can't keep my head full of bees whispering why it doesn't matter it never matters I can't keep eating the edges of my cuticles it won't grow flat I can't keep my ear to my gut it's holding on to a secret I'm listening it's not telling I can't keep waiting by the phone waiting for that email to make it right it will never be right I can't keep saying I don't mind I get it-I understand I don't I can't keep not surrendering to anything since the switch flipped it got broke I can't switch it back I can't keep a single person as ideal as I have loved them stop idealizing I can't keep all the names off my lips they push out daily hourly I form them my mouth aches I can't keep this pencil moving its eraser is shrinking there's more mistakes to make I can't keep presuming the road's closed my feet are swelling until it hurts to walk but I walk anyway I can't keep listening to the air in my lungs rub against my nostrils I hear myself living I need to be sleeping 4-16-13 First Published in Something’s Brewing, Kind of a Hurricane Press (April 2014)
Video from night at TALB!
Last Friday night, I got to have a phenomenal evening with all of my favorite things: music, poetry, teachers, friends, family, and even my mom’s dog! Though not of these made the video (my mom and her dog are not featured), most of them are highlighted here on this amazing montage put together by the Teacher’s Association of Long Beach. Musicians Alex Hattick, Fernando Gallegos, Karlee and Bobby Cuff (AKA BobKat) perform songs, as well as play music to poetry for Nancy Lynée Woo and me. Watch the TALB video at this link!
Saturday Afternoon Poetry in Pasadena
Sarah Thursday and Nancy Lynée Woo are at it again! We have been very busy bees launching a new press, Lucid Moose Lit, and feel it’s time to get back to how we first became poetry partners, by reading you a full set of our own poems. Join us in Pasadena in the back room at the Santa Catalina Branch Library with host, Don Kingfisher Campbell, and fellow poet, Marvin Dorsey. There will be a open reading list if you also have poems to share.
We’ll have lots or goodies for you, including our most recent projects, Gutters & Alleyways, Cadence Collective Anthology, poetry books, and both our poetry with music CDs. See you there!
Santa Catalina Branch Library 999 E Washington Blvd, Pasadena, California 91104
Child of the Alleyway
We were five, sometimes more,
in a one-bedroom duplex
with its back turned away
from the street. We made
it work, split the space
with my brother in the laundry,
and a cloth foldout couch.
We had two dogs and two cats
so the house was never empty.
I knew well the back ends
of other people’s houses,
apartments and wood fences,
gardens and add-on porches.
Telephone poles like redwoods
stood in a forest of garage doors
and parking spaces, while
sunlight and shadows played
hide-and-seek across the sky.
On holidays like Thanksgiving,
food drive cans of green beans,
cranberries and yellow corn,
and boxes of instant mashed potatoes
landed on our back-front porch,
three brown steps, peeling paint
peeling wood from white washed walls.
We painted the kitchen red
with forest green trim, so
it always felt like Christmas
underneath the long wires
across much taller buildings.
Originally appeared in Ishaan Literary Review.
First Fridays with TALB
Nancy Lynée Woo and I are doing our thing with our favorite poet musicians BobKat at First Fridays in Bixby Knolls with the Teacher’s Association of Long Beach. It’s free! We will be reading some musical magic between 6:30-8:30.
Silver Birch Press Self-Portrait Series Anthology
I am honored to be among so many poets (Look at that list!) I admire in this print anthology version of the Self-Portrait Series from Silver Birch Press. Contact them on their website or find it on Amazon.
Gutters & Alleyways Book Launch
I am extremely excited about releasing this beautiful anthology, Gutters & Alleyways: Perspectives on Poverty and Struggle, with Nancy Lynée Woo through out joint social justice project, Lucid Moose Lit. If you live in the area, come out to our event on Sunday, September 28th! RSVP on Facebook for more details.
SheZilla on October 5th
This is going to be a fierce event where I get to feature my current and future Sadie Girls: Nancy Lynée Woo, Raquel Reyes-Lopez, JL Martindale, and Elmast Kozloyan. Lucid Moose is also represented, so you get an even extra special-er night! Find more information on the Facebook event page and at SheZilla.
Reviews of All the Tiny Anchors
I got my second unsolicited review on Amazon! I am very humbled at the kind words that people are sharing with me publicly and privately. The collection is based on a real heartbreak I experienced. Much of the journey in creating the book was a healing process. I wanted to tell the story in the best way I knew how and be done with it. I really wasn’t sure how people would react since its a very specific theme and personal story. The poems are not experimental and don’t try to push envelops. They are just honest pieces of my heart. Every time someone tells me how the book has affected them, I am truly honored that my poems are finding their way into the lives of others. Thank you!
Long Beach Folk Festival
On September 27th, 2014, The Long Beach Folk Revival Festival will be taking over the Rainbow Lagoon in downtown Long Beach. Our favorite indie bookstore, Gatsby Books, will have a booth across from the Mill Stage. My poetry partner in crime, Nancy Lynée Woo and I will be at the booth from 2-3 pm to represent all of our poetry projects: Cadence Collective, Sadie Girl Press, and Lucid Moose Lit. Come by and say hello!
Sarah Thursday 