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Books                                                                                                                                          News

                             from

 

SMALL SPARKLE

 

I taught myself
to find a small sparkle

within the dark of night
to sigh one or two feathers

spin a dream
in silken gold
and sleep
in silver peace

one or two feathers

Plan B Press

Alexandria, VIrginia

2010

Jake and Jill

Ridgeline Press

Raleigh, North Carolina

2011

RIGHT AND WRONG 

 

Didn’t your mother always 

tell you that you will 

spoil your dinner if you 

eat candy before supper? 

Jake scolds. 

 

“Yes, but she 

  was always wrong

  about that” 

  Jill replies.

 

"Growing Up In A Ford Fairlane" in 

Boston Literary Review and selected for the Best of Boston Literary Review

 

Essay on mapping as a way to consider process in writing on ButDoesItRhyme blog (Richer Resources Publishing)

 

"Rubaiyat, Misplaced in the Stacks" finalist in the Ron Rash Awards and appears in Broad River Review

 

"Inauguration," " Cultivating Words," "Higher Order Operations" appeared in Indiana Voice Journal

 

"Fine Apparel" chosen for Kakalak

"Amelia Speaks of Open Water" Honorable Mention for the North Carolina Literary Review 

"That Moment I Detach from Myself" appearing online at

Grey Sparrow

Cameo Roles

Big Table Publishing

Boston, Massachusetts

2011

GOD WROTE:


Dear Hanna Grace,

My name is antiquated,
grizzled, a relic.
I want a new “handle.”
Please suggest possibilities.

 

I replied:

raindrop
grain of sand
laughter
lilac
Indiana
bonbon
snowflake
woolen socks 
fireplace
Claire de Lune
cameo
blue silk
sunset
poetry

    
 

High Ground

Main Street Rag

Charlotte, North Carolina 

2013

                          from

 

Human Resouces

 

defense, everyone defensive

staccato shots and belched 

IED explosions vibrate

in the air, when fighting

 

dies down in late afternoon, 

a farmer and his son

go out, pick some okra

to stew for dinner 

How to Come and Go

Chatter House Press

Indianapolis, Indiana

2016

WEEDS

 

Chicory blooms at 6:23

on a sunrise red morning,

blueberry-violet blossoms

dot ditches and pastures

along country roads.

Stick figure stalks stand

in irregular angles, capped

by daisy mops. Foliage, edible

endive, graces a garden salad.

Come evening, flowers fade

into tired lilac before closing

to sleep in the indigo shadows

of night. Chicory grows strong 

from deep roots in summer sun,

witness to the worth of weeds.

 

                       Poetry

 

                                      from

 

           SATURDAY SUMMER MORNING

 

 

Yesterday the hawk held court

on a low limb near the house,

an empress posing for the paparazzi,

a furry remnant hanging from her talon

like a beaded reticule.

                                                                                                                        ​                                                    

 

                              Poetry

 

                                        from

 

       DOES LOVE MAKE THE MOUNTAINS BLUE

 

 The outline of the ridge,

  blue in this moon-bosomed sky,

  woos the stars.

                            Poetry

 

                                             from

 

                                      FOAL

 

Soon she will learn the harness

of discipline and her role on an oval track

just as you and I learned our gaits after we

were weaned from the gentle lead of our mothers.

Poetry Events 

                                 love this quotation:

 

   poetry is a sign of something among people--Mary Ruefle    

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