My poem “This Oak” is live at the Chandelier issue of the Bulb Culture Collective. Thank you to editors L.M. Cole and Jared Povanda for taking this piece. “This Oak” first appeared in Slippery Elm in 2019. Happy Arbor Day, everyone!
My poem “My Mother’s Ghost Sits Next to Me at the Hotel Bar” is live at Silver Birch Press. Many thanks to editor and publisher Melanie Villines for her continuing support. The poem was originally published inThe Lake, and is included in my first full-length book, Our Loveliest Bruises, forthcoming this fall from 3: A Taos Press.
My poem “While Drowning I Gaze at the Moon” is live at Muleskinner Journal. Thank you to Gary Campanella and the Muleskinner Team for taking this piece.
I am thrilled that Does It Have Pockets has published three of my recent prose poems, “Metastases,” “A Patient Noose,” and “Everywhere But Here.” I am grateful to editor Camille Griep for making space for these poems.
I am thrilled that Indianapolis Review has published two of my recent poems, “The Over/Under” and “Bargaining.” I am grateful to editor Natalie Solmer for taking these poems.
Don Perkins responded, but the formatting was off, ruining his superb poem. Here we go again:
Mustanged Ghazal for/from Bob and Anna Marie
It’s sometimes funny, and sometimes it’s not,
the phantoms that swim up from memory’s murk.
A dangerous thing, that dream of power
born from falsehoods escaping memory’s murk.
Drop everything for joy,* a blessing saved
and consumed like breath from memory’s murk.
Return to rituals we were to the night;
Shake loose, dance to tunes from memory’s murk.
Describe yourself in colors named in songs,
And mixed from pigments aswirl in memory’s murk.
Stumble, poefying down the path of life,**,
Bemused by the sun and memory’s murk.
Don Perkins 11 Feb 2024
Acknowledgements: Bob Okaji; Anna Marie Sewell; * Shawna Lemay, “Finding Your Joy,” Transactions with Beauty, 3 Feb 2024;
** Anna Marie Sewell, email 10 Feb 2024.
I will be the featured reader at the ZOOM SALOON hosted by Anna Marie Sewell on February 10, at 1 PM MDT (3 PM Eastern). I’m excited about this. Last year, on February 10 (!!!), I lost my voice. For months I could barely speak. But it’s back now!
Here’s the link:
Join Zoom Meeting
I will be the featured reader at the ZOOM SALOON hosted by Anna Marie Sewell on February 10, at 1 PM MDT (3 PM Eastern). I’m excited about this. Last year, on February 10 (!!!), I lost my voice. For months I could barely speak. But it’s back now!
No need to RSVP. I’ll post the link later in the week (or email me, and I’ll get it to you). I’ve been following Anna Marie Sewell for many years, and I love and admire her work and dedication to the arts. If you’re not familiar with her writing, you must visit Prairiepomes.
I am thrilled that Midwest Zen has published six of my shakuhachi poems, which were written in November 2017, during a self-imposed poem-a-day jag. I am grateful to editor Mark Howell for taking these poems. I still can’t play that damned flute!
My poem “I’ll Have the Body Sandwich, and Hold the “Me,” Please” is live at Poem Alone. I am grateful to editor Colin Dardis for taking this piece, and to artist Ron Throop for providing the title during a fundraiser for Brick Street Poetry a couple of years ago.
O at the Edges 