Package from Paris
Tag: Southern California
Poets Cafe (KPFK Radio – Los Angeles 90.7 fm)
Kinda jumping up and down for this one! I am so thrilled to be included in a series of poetry by Poets Cafe (KPFK Radio – Los Angeles 90.7 fm) on immigration. This topic is near and dear to me in my teaching life, as many of my students are immigrants or first generation from immigrants. Recent news about the protests in Murrieta broke my heart. You can not only read my poem “Murrieta”, but listen to me reading it for you at this link!
January 1991
In the bathroom of that old theater
is where it started for us.
You stood by the sink
and we met eyes through the mirror.
I had cut my hair short,
dyed my blond hair black.
You were so heavy metal
with your endless platinum hair
and black suede boots with fringe
that made me resist you.
But I kept hearing rumors
that you liked my favorite bands
like The Cure and even Scattered Few.
You were my age
and the same height as me,
we were both on the threshold
of becoming women,
of defining our future selves.
Back in nineteen ninety-one
we’d come for the same reason
to hear the bands pour their hearts out
to bare their souls on the stage.
You must have understood it
the need to feel it raw
the bloody heart pulsing.
I looked through the mirror at you
in that bathroom in January,
the decade still fresh and undefined.
We talked about the band
the way we always would.
You smiled with uncertainty,
I smiled back in my arrogance.
Gutters and Alleyways: Perspectives on Poverty and Struggle
I am working with my partner in poetry, Nancy Lynée Woo, on a project called “Gutters and Alleyways: Perspectives on Poverty and Struggle“. We are creating a perfect bound print anthology of poetry, prose, and art based on experiences in poverty. This project has been on our minds for several months, and we are now pushing it forward full force! This will be published under Lucid Moose Lit, a press focused on social justice issues, which already has new ideas itching to be born. If you have poetry, prose, or art demonstrating a perspective on poverty, please check out the link for more details. The deadline is fast approaching, July 15th!!
Seventy-Five Hours
Holding Barbie up to me, you said
“My mommy’s in jail”
and broke the strong girl face
that walked through my door.
I pulled Barbie up while you
cried in your thick five-year-old legs
dressed in pink four-year-old pants.
In two weeks you’d be six
starting first grade. You knew
your letters and how to write your name.
How to write “I love you, Mommy”.
You said you were mad at her
for going to jail, for doing bad things.
In my foreign home, you laughed
at SpongeBob and played
with unfamiliar toys. You should
have been in Santa Barbara
buying new school clothes—
instead you were with strangers
in Lakewood Mall Target
buying clothes for a six-year-old,
guessing your size underwear.
I took you to a fair at the beach
but forgot to bring cash,
so we stared at the things
that neither of us could have.
We danced in my backyard,
blew bubbles for the dog,
and sang the song, “Whooooo
lives in a pineapple under the sea?”
They found the man you called
Daddy One—or maybe Two—
but you called him a number.
You cried when I told you
he was on his way. His name
was on your birth certificate,
so he drove from Santa Barbara
over two long hours.
He cried when he saw you—
you did not cry when you saw him.
I kissed you on your forehead.
You left with Daddy One
and bags of new school clothes,
back to Santa Barbara.
In less than five minutes,
I returned to my own house empty
of your laughter, SpongeBob still
on the Netflix queue.
9-29-13
Originally published on Ishaan Literary Review
Cover of my book!
Pyrokinection
I’m very excited to have my poem “Honey” included in Pyrokinection. It is another one from my upcoming poetry book, All the Tiny Anchors.
Tic Toc Anthology
I am honored to have my poem, “Westwood Boulevard (Why I Can’t Go Back)” included in Tic Toc, an anthology about time. The editors asked “authors to let their minds drip through the hourglass…authors created a kaleidoscopic array of time tunnels for the reader to travel through. So take a moment, pick a door, allow yourself to fall into and through visions of past memories, revel in tangible interpretations of today, or leap light-years ahead of your own future.”
You can download a FREE PDF copy or buy a print copy from Amazon for less than ten bucks!
Carnival Magic
Two of my poems, “5:38” and “Sonic Screwdriver”, are included in this special issue of Carnival Literary Magazine all about magic! You can get your very own FREE downloadable copy and read many amazing poems and stories.
Cliterature
Cliterature is an online and print journal about women’s sexuality. I am very honored to have my poem “View at 4 A.M.” included in the June 2014, Climax issue.
Sarah Thursday 