When Words Fail

 

Don't Cry Over Spilled Water

I spilled a glass of water on my desk, and my notebook, open-mouthed, drank from it until the swollen pages stuck. Tenderly peeling each page apart, I fanned them with my thumb throughout the day and later bore the book upstairs and aimed the hot breath of the blue blow dryer on it.

I thought I preferred those first pristine pages, remembering how, eyes closed, my pen could glide precisely as shining blades on ice. But now there are crags to climb -- the buckled paper contains lakes of stains to cross. To write here is to tread deep into Hansel and Gretel's dark forest. To dance with a bear, the scent of blood and blackberries on its breath, to palm the warm apricots and plums bartered for at Christina's Goblin Market, to put them in my mouth, between teeth and tongue, then face the flowering of fangs and stars. 

A poem for the end of the year

I want to burn 

some of this year

to nothing,

but ash,

like snow,

falls to the ground

where we will

walk again.

And smoke? We

breathe it in,

and, dragonlike,

exhale flames

that torch

crows and crops

alike.

Be careful 

what you burn,

I tell myself today,

stir the embers gently,

as if they were a soup 

you would spoon

into every mouth.

Before the Sun Knows You're Awake

 

Carol Weliky -- writer, friend and human extraordinaire -- has a new chapbook, Before the Sun Knows You're Awake, available from Dancing Girl Press & Studio.

Part family mystery, part wrestling match with a sudden and new identity, Before the Sun Know You’re Awake is an unflinchingly honest tour de force. On a lark, Weliky took a DNA test -- a whim that caused the earth to roll and crack beneath her feet as the results revealed that her sister is really her half-sister, the man she believed to be her father was not her father at all, and her DNA stretched back to a place she couldn't have imagined. Evoking One Thousand and One Nights and other folktales, Weliky’s poetic prose enthralls as she searches for the truth at the heart of this mystery: herself.

Weliky is a writer and artist who enjoys exploring genres. Sometimes she writes songs. Several of her poems, short fictions, and a personal essay have been published in small presses and a short play was produced and performed for Portland, Oregon's Fertile Ground Festival. A poetic line of hers is stamped in concrete on one of Portland's light-rail stations. She is currently working on a book of short-form poetry. Before the Sun Knows You’re Awake is her first chapbook.

You can order a copy of Before the Sun Knows You're Awake here.

Grand illusion: 'Us' and 'Them'

 

Zayne Clayton and Akash Dhruva in Them by Samah Sabawi, directed by Malek Najjar, produced by University of Oregon. Photo: Naji Saker Photography.

This tense and timely play will be onstage at the Ellen Bye Studio in Portland for three more performances. You can read my ArtsWatch review here.

May I read you a poem?

For nearly a decade, Shawn Aveningo Sanders and her husband, Robert Sanders, have been publishing anthologies of poets near and far. Open to familiar names as well as new poets, every piece they've printed in their journal The Poeming Pigeon has been of the highest quality.

What's more, this dynamic pair have a talent for bringing people together to share their work and listen to others. I feel so grateful to have participated in many of these readings. Before COVID, we read in person. Since then, Shawn and Robert have kept us together with Zoom readings, and even on this platform the electricity and the emotion in everyone's words ring loud and clear.

And speaking of gratitude...they also nominate poets they've published for Pushcart Awards, and I'm so very honored to receive one for my poem "Sail On," which appeared in this fall's final issue of The Poeming Pigeon.

You can click here if you'd like to see the recording of the Zoom launch party where several of the poets included in the issue shared their work. (Lucky me, I got to read first and then relax and enjoy the other readers.) Or better yet, you can buy a copy of The Poeming Pigeon, Issue 14 here, which features stunning art and poetry by Dale Champlin, Willa Schneberg, Carolyn Martin and so many more.

And not to worry...Shawn and Robert are still in the publishing business. If you're interested in seeing your work published by people who will care about you and your writing and also do everything they can to make sure it's seen, check out their submission guidelines.

One more thing: THANK YOU, SHAWN & ROBERT...again and again and again.

Taking Flight

 

What an honor to join the other readers for the launch of this final issue of The Poeming Pigeon! You can follow the link to pre-register.