(Originally appeared in December 2013)
Christina Davis’s Forth a Raven offers stark, textured, intelligent and lyrical pieces in a stripped-down yet ultimately complex, reflective language. Encompassing the tension of different realms – the spiritual and the secular, the extraordinary and the mundane, her work, quite simply, astounds. Read this book. Seek out her work. It’s sublime.
Five
Of odd and even, the figure of natural man.
If an open hand equals five, what, then, is a fist?
The number of fear, of strength and severity.
Pressing the thorn into my thumb, I redeem.
Wood subdues earth.
Of Ishtar, the talisman of magic, the quintessence.
After the fall, the five.
Earth conquers water.
An outstretched body’s form: the pentagon.
Charred flesh, death in the air.
Of perfection and man’s limits.
Five wounds, five mysteries, the pyramid’s representation.
The hamsadeflects an evil eye.
Water extinguishes fire.
I close my eyes and see.
Of cone/cube/sphere/water/ether.
Metal cuts wood.
The staff serves time and pitch in music.
From waves to vibration to nerve impulses.
Nexus of the cardinal directions.
Of balance and harmony; the center.
Product of the first female and male numbers.
The Szechuan peppercorn confuses the tongue.
Fire melts metal.
When multiplied by a factor of itself, the end.
Numbers fascinate me. “Five” was published in the 2018 summer edition of The High Window. Many thanks to editor David Cooke for taking this piece.
I’m honored that editor Brian Geiger of Vita Brevis has republished my poem “Bone Music” as an editor’s choice selection.
My poem “Missing Loved Ones,” the first draft of which came to being during the 2016 August 30-30 challenge, has been nominated by Eclectica for Best of the Net. Many thanks to poetry editor Jen Finstrom for her generosity and encouragement, and to my longtime friend, Emily Bailey, for sponsoring the poem and providing the title.
My March 2016 conversation with Mockingheart Review editor, Clare L. Martin. I’m stoked to be reading with Clare and fellow MHR poet Bessie Senette on October 20th at Malvern Books in Austin.
My poems “Letter to Schnee from the Stent’s Void” and “Genealogy Dream” are live in Issue 4 of Lost River literary magazine. Many thanks to editor Leigh Cheak for publishing these two.
The deadline is fast approaching.
August 1, 2018 deadline!
poems for peace: an anthology to uplift encourage & inspire
This anthology, poems for peace (forthcoming, fall 2018), is the love-child of a group of poets and listeners who have been gathering quarterly in San Antonio, Texas since Nov. 11, 2017 in association with the San Antonio peaceCENTER. This anthology will be published as a peaceCENTERbook, with all proceeds going to support the CENTER.
While we are aware that many horrors occur in our world and that, as a people, we seem to be in turmoil and conflict on many fronts, our aim is to provide respite from the apparent problems and to purposefully turn our attention to the good, the Whole, the Holy, that which is full of peace and comfort.
For this inaugural issue of poems for peace, we seek work that is metaphysical, celebratory, fun, funny, lighthearted, playful, thoughtful, warm, tender, beautiful, compassionate, heart-opening, or spiritual without proselytizing, nostalgic without being overly sentimental, empowered without being politically charged and rich with imagery and story but not with graphic insensibility or dealing with overtly, hot topics that may trigger anxiety or anger in the listener (like abuse issues, natural disasters, or tragedy in general).
Rather, we seek work that uplifts, encourages and inspires. We are especially interested in the metaphysically broad; we look for the profound, real, fearless, gender-inclusive, curious voice.
Guidelines:
Please send 3-5 previously unpublished poems of up to ten pages in length and in any form in a single Word document, making sure that no identifying information appears within the document. Include a brief, bio (100 words or less) in your cover letter. Submissions are being hosted by Moon Shadow Sanctuary Press via Submittable only (see link below).
The book will be perfect bound and available online through the peaceCENTERbook link and other online venues plus locally in bookstores TBA. Poets included in the anthology may be invited to participate in future poets for peace events. For more information or to ask questions about poets for peace or submissions, look for us on Face Book, or send us a message here: fb.me/poetsforpeaceSA
Deadline: August 1, 2018
Click here to submit: https://moonshadowsanctuarypress.submittable.com/submit
Some of you might be interested in submitting poems to this anthology. I know I am.
August 1, 2018 deadline!
poems for peace: an anthology to uplift encourage & inspire
This anthology, poems for peace (forthcoming, fall 2018), is the love-child of a group of poets and listeners who have been gathering quarterly in San Antonio, Texas since Nov. 11, 2017 in association with the San Antonio peaceCENTER. This anthology will be published as a peaceCENTERbook, with all proceeds going to support the CENTER.
While we are aware that many horrors occur in our world and that, as a people, we seem to be in turmoil and conflict on many fronts, our aim is to provide respite from the apparent problems and to purposefully turn our attention to the good, the Whole, the Holy, that which is full of peace and comfort.
For this inaugural issue of poems for peace, we seek work that is metaphysical, celebratory, fun, funny, lighthearted, playful, thoughtful, warm, tender, beautiful, compassionate, heart-opening, or spiritual without proselytizing, nostalgic without being overly sentimental, empowered without being politically charged and rich with imagery and story but not with graphic insensibility or dealing with overtly, hot topics that may trigger anxiety or anger in the listener (like abuse issues, natural disasters, or tragedy in general).
Rather, we seek work that uplifts, encourages and inspires. We are especially interested in the metaphysically broad; we look for the profound, real, fearless, gender-inclusive, curious voice.
Guidelines:
Please send 3-5 previously unpublished poems of up to ten pages in length and in any form in a single Word document, making sure that no identifying information appears within the document. Include a brief, bio (100 words or less) in your cover letter. Submissions are being hosted by Moon Shadow Sanctuary Press via Submittable only (see link below).
The book will be perfect bound and available online through the peaceCENTERbook link and other online venues plus locally in bookstores TBA. Poets included in the anthology may be invited to participate in future poets for peace events. For more information or to ask questions about poets for peace or submissions, look for us on Face Book, or send us a message here: fb.me/poetsforpeaceSA
Deadline: August 1, 2018
Click here to submit: https://moonshadowsanctuarypress.submittable.com/submit
My poem “Five” is included in the summer edition of The High Window. Many thanks to editor David Cooke for taking this piece. The issue is spectacular – I’m delighted to have a poem appear in it.
Links to my publications for September – November 2017:
This Island is a Stone, Mockingheart Review, September, 2017.
That Number Upon Which the Demand Lieth. Posit, September, 2017.
Pleasure in Absence of Ending (Enso). Posit, September, 2017.
At Work I Stand Observing My Diminished Self. Posit, September, 2017.
N is Its Child. Reservoir, October 2017.
Better Than Drowning. Underfoot, October, 2017.
Ghost, with a Line from Porchia. Underfoot, October, 2017.
Elegy. Underfoot, October, 2017.
Some Answers You Never Considered. Underfoot, October, 2017.
As Blue Fades. Underfoot, October, 2017.
River Carry Me. Underfoot, October, 2017.
The Three Disappointments of Pedro Arturo, Main Street Rag, October 2017. Print only.
Snails.Vox Populi, October 2017.
Letter to Schwaner from the Toad-Swallowed Moon, Hamilton Stone Review, October 2017.
Yellow, Lost. Wildness, October 2017.
Happy Circuitry.Figroot Press, October 2017.
If You Drop Leaves. Bad Pony, November 2017.
O at the Edges 