Day Thirty-one, Tupelo Press 30/30 Project (last day!)

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Rattlesnake sign

“Synapses and Other Conjunctions” is my 31st and final offering for the Tupelo Press 30/30 Project (9 poets agreed to write 30 poems apiece in 30 days, to raise funds for Tupelo Press, a non-profit literary publisher). Many thanks to Luanne Castle, who sponsored and provided the title. Since the 30-30 marathon officially ended yesterday, this poem will appear only on this site, and not on the 30-30 site.

Even though my participation in the 30-30 project ends today, please feel free to contribute to Tupelo Press! Every bit helps (even a dollar or two), and I’ve some other sponsorship opportunities, with corresponding incentives, listed here, which I will continue to honor over the next month.

If you’re so inclined, please visit the 30/30 blog at: Donate to Tupelo. Scroll down to “Is this donation in honor of a 30/30 poet?” and select my name, “Robert Okaji,” from the pull down so that Tupelo knows to credit the donation to me. And please let me know so that I may send a thank you and incentive gift your way.

Thank you for your support over the past month. I promise I won’t bombard you with fund raising solicitations anytime in the near future!

Now here’s the poem:

Synapses and Other Conjunctions

My advice? Wear boots, even among the dead.
Our barefoot friend, having separated the rattler’s
head from its body, picked up the six-foot
length to show off, and stepped back onto

***

33 thoughts on “Day Thirty-one, Tupelo Press 30/30 Project (last day!)”

  12. Having lived in the rattlesnake capital of the world, I also know that even the babies’ bite is as potent as an adult’s. So in keeping with the metaphor, maybe even the infant, undeveloped ideas of a poet cannot be considered harmless. ?? 😀

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  13. I really like this one; especially the lines ‘twists and hard angles and blurry lint may / confuse the issue, perhaps even start a fire. / And before you say, yes, yes, that’s what / I want, a fire, consider other possibilities’. I like the last sentence, too.

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  14. I liked the poem a lot. However, if I may, I felt it like prose..I mean..the thing there to be expressed was in prose. (If someone might say that expressions pre-exist in things as forms). Nice to read you.

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