Seemingly Everlasting Sunshine by Nathalie Le Breton

 

Enjoy this charming and insightful poem by Nathalie Le Breton, whose unique voice exudes light and warmth.

Seemingly Everlasting Sunshine

 

When I was one I couldn’t believe it:

Look at that bright blue sky!

Look at that seemingly everlasting sunshine!

 

When I was two,

sure,

I did see a few clouds.

 

When I was three,

it started raining.

So I grabbed an umbrella.

 

When I was four,

It started pouring.

So I went back inside.

 

When I was five,

I peeked through the window:

Dark pools on the ground.

 

I don’t remember after five,

as I had closed my eyes.

To see again the bright blue sky.

To see again

the seemingly everlasting sunshine.

 

About the Author:

Nathalie Le Breton is a French native speaker who has relocated in the Pacific Northwest. She enjoys exploring a different language as a form of personal discovery and melodic expression. She also enjoys reading poetry and children's books, knitting, drinking tea, and walking slowly through the seasons.

Nancy, Tina and Me

 

When I was seven, my cool older cousin gave me her copy of the Nancy Drew novel The Mysterious Mannequin, and I was hooked. I didn't just love Nancy, I wanted to be her, to have her sharp eyes and calm, clear mind that always got to the truth.

I've been trying to write about Nancy for years, but I struggled to get it right. How to express my fangirl status while also acknowledging that the books are pretty funny, with their formulaic plots, impossibly perfect heroine and outdated stock character sidekicks ("tomboy" George and dithering, "plump" Bess). 

How did I finally tap into my delight in these stories? By making a list of the goofy, delicious language penned by "Carolyn Keene," and then turning that list into a poem. Many thanks to the editors of VoiceCatcher Journal for publishing my poem "Nancy Drew's Fancy" as well as "Sighs of the Mermaid" in their latest issue. 

What's even better than getting published? Getting published alongside your students. Congratulations to the fabulous Tina Klammer, whose poems "Sir Nicholas the Brave" and "This Is What We Know" appear in this issue! And...congratulations to Jaymee Martin, a former student, on the publication of her nonfiction story "Hechizo"!

Here's the table of contents with links to all the current VoiceCatcher writing, including poetry by Shawn Aveningo Sanders and Carolyn Martin.

It takes two, baby

Many thanks to the editors of both Human/Kind Journal and Sonic Boom Journal, who recently published segments of my Sally and Rodrigo vignettes.

I dreamed up these two characters some years ago. At the time, I eagerly jotted down ideas about them. I knew they both like sitting on their attic floor and smoking and that they had a habit of turning off all the lights and pretending they weren't home. I didn't, however, know where to go from there. Then this spring I suggested to my quarantined writing students that they look for inspiration in the fauna in their neighborhoods. I'd seen a mallard pair splashing in a rain puddle across the street and suddenly I knew what the next steps were for Sally and Rodrigo.

You'll find "La Celebración" on page 32 of Sonic Boom. "El Vuelo" is Human/Kind's December 3, 2020 post.

A Teenager's Guide to Feminism

I'm so proud to have a poem in A Teenager's Guide to Feminism, a new anthology from Pear Shaped Press. 

Many thanks to the editors for putting together this powerful collection of  essays, letters and poems. 

To read more about the book, click here. 

The Poetry Box LIVE!

 I'm looking forward to reading and listening!

Some Good News

 Thank you to Shawn Aveningo Sanders and Robert Sanders of The Poetry Box for this honor!

For links to these poems or to check out all the offerings at The Poetry Box, you can click here.

Hope is a thing with feathers...*

         

or wrinkles

                        

                or threads

           

                                                                                 or bold letters  –                                  

                                                                            

                     hope stands tall

                            

or waves,

               

                           flaps and folds

                                                    

then squares its shoulders

                                               and winks,

                                                                                                         

                                                             

                                                hope fills its lungs with love,

sets sail

                                         flies like veined wings

                                                                                                                                and seeds.

* Apologies to Emily Dickinson