The second installment of A Poet is a Poet No Matter How Tall: Episode II Attack of the Poems is out now! Not only to I get to have a poem of mine in this incredible anthology edited by the gorgeous Raundi Kai Moore-Kondo, I get to share these pages with an incredible number of my friends, including my niece, Kailani, and my former student, Hailey. You should pick up a copy of this goodness and read the ridiculous amount of age friendly poetry filled with love! Get it here at the Createspace store, or find it on Amazon.
Tag: poem
Hedgerow #6
I have a poem called “Unnamed” on the 6th issue of this lovely site, Hedgerow: A Journal of Small Poems. Take a few minutes and read some beautiful poetry. Oh, then send them some of your own!
Not Sleeping
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)
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.
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.
Bird UP!
This amazing project is called Bird UP! Local artists create works of art on simple birdhouses. The newest series will include 20-second sound clips of bird poems. I’m happy to have my poem, “Night Birds”, recorded and attached to one of these lovely creations. You can see them on display on October 18th, between 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM as part of the A LOT Initiative at the open lot on Artesia and Atlantic in North Long Beach. Bird UP! will have future birdhouse events posted on their Facebook page, so follow them!
San Pedro River Review Vol. 6 No. 2
The new issue of of the San Pedro River Review is out with my poem, “Lament for the Atlantic”! I couldn’t be more honored to share pages with someone whose work has meant more to me than I can explain. Ellen Bass. It’s almost as amazing as sitting behind Sharon Olds at AWP. I am also happy to be in the same journal with my poetry mother, Ricki Mandeville; Lucid Moose Angel, Michael Dwayne Smith; and Long Beach legend, Gerald Locklin. How did I get so lucky?
New East Jasmine Review!
The newest issue, Volume 2: Issue 2, of East Jasmine Review has so many beautiful things to read, from stories to poems and reviews. I am honored to have three of my newest poems, “Dust Universe”, “The First Him”, and “Scent Stained” included among writer’s like Nancy Lynée Woo, Raquel Reyes-Lopez, Terry Wright, Clifton Snider, Zack Nelson Lipoccolo, Michael Cantin, Kevin Ridgeway, Scott Noon Creley, Christina Foskey, and K. Andrew Turner. For the price of a fancy coffee, you can read over 100 pages of wonderfulness.
Sarah Thursday 