Always honored to share pages with poets in my community. I am very excited to have my poem, “Reef of Clouds” be included in San Gabriel Valley Poertry Quarterly, Issue 62 Spring 2014, with 38 other poets, including Raquel Reyes-Lopez, Marie Lecrivain, and Don Kingfisher Campbell. I will get to read with these lovely people on Saturday, May 31st between 3-5 pm, at the Santa Catalina Branch of the Pasadena Public Library on 999 E. Washington Blvd.
Tag: Long Beach
East Jasmine Review Volume 2 Issue 1
The newest issue of East Jasmine Review is available now! I have three poems in this issue, “Words in Stone and Liquid”, “The Truth of My Skin”, and “The First Her”. I am honored to share these pages with some of my favorite poets, Charlotte San Juan, Clifton Snider, John Brantingham, Mary Torregrossa, Thomas R. Thomas, Elmast Kozloyan, and K. Andrew Turner! Over 100 pages of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction in three eco-friendly formats: Kindle, ePub, and PDF for the low cost of $4.50!
The first two poems of mine will also be in my upcoming collection, All the Tiny Anchors.
Disorder: Mental Illness and Its Affects
I am very excited to share this anthology I am honored to be a part of. Two of my poems, “White Sandals” and “Skin As Thick As Walruses“, are in the pages of this collection of poems about living with and around mental illness. The 140 page book is available through Amazon or through the Red Dashboard bookstore.
Skin As Thick As Walruses Recording
“Skin As Thick As Walruses”, along with “White Sandals”, is included in the anthology Disorder: Mental Illness and Its Affects published by Red Dashboard now available. I feel extremely honored to be a part of this anthology since this issue is very near to my heart.
Before you buy your very own copy, you can listen to a recording done with BobKat. Bobby Cuff selected music they had prerecorded and without any planning or previewing, we recorded this track in one take. The timing was magical. I hope you will enjoy.
Storm Cycle Anthology
I am honored to have two poems in Storm Cycle 2013, Best of Kind of a Hurricane Press, “Lies to Tell My Body” and “Viscosity”. You can buy the 450 page anthology at Amazon or download the PDF version for free!
July 9th @ The Ugly Mug!
Doing a feature at The Ugly Mug in the city of Orange on July 9, 2014! Hosted by Two Idiots Peddling Poetry, the reading starts at 8:00 P.M., has a great open reading, and very comfortable atmosphere for a small $3 cover.
261 N. Glassell Ave., Orange, CA 92866
Plump Tomatoes
These are the kind of poems
they want us to write,
about black-red birds and the sky
and the plumpness of tomatoes
soft against your tongue,
how it relates to our humanity
and our connection to the eternal.
But I don’t relate to birds
and tomatoes (though I
will eat them endlessly)
do not keep me up at night.
When I am forced to flatten
the pages of my journal,
it’s the calluses on his fingers
how I want to scrape them
scratch his dead skin off
until he forgets me,
but he has already
forgotten me.
May 10th, 2014
Poetic Conspirators, Nancy and Sarah, Come to Santa Barbara!
We are coming to the gorgeous city of Santa Barbara to read poetry. How much happier can we be? If you are in the area, join us for some poetry shenanigans at Granada Books at
The Silence of Trains
“You fall in love
with someone who knows
the same silence as you”
–Daniel McGinn
I fell in love with the man
who knew the same silence—
the silence of trains up close
in roaring motion, the strength
is deafening, a lulling voice
Its constancy feels like comfort
I loved the man who knew
the silence of city lights
from hill tops at midnight
The stars blushing down
at Los Angeles sprawled out
limbs open wide
The silence of public spaces
after dark, after closing,
after all other souls
are empty from it
I fell in love with the man
whose tongue filled
with paper and sand,
whose throat I saw dancing,
telling secrets, whose hands—
those hands said things
out loud for the first time
I’d been listening for years
Hear it? The silence, it swallows me
Originally appeared on Cadence Collective.
July 1970
for my mother at 20
You seemed taller in the trees
Hair parted hanging long as limbs
How high did you climb then
How long did you remain
among the leafless branches
Twenty year old girl
Newly mothered
You must feel young smiling
Quilted dress does not stop you
You stand up and lean over down
It is dusk on another day
You swing— arms open— in the forest
Fingers spread wide
Thick red cardigan
You must feel free
I only knew you this way
Homemade dresses and open-toed shoes
You hated feeling closed in
You did come back for her
You must have known
As the woods grew dark
A new decade was upon you
A chance to begin again
The mountain air, crisp
I imagine, filled your lungs slow
Head tilted back as you swing
Back, smiling, and
Swing forward
First appeared in Healing the Heart of Ophelia.
Recently published on Cadence Collective.
Sarah Thursday 