M Christine Delea's Blog, page 45
October 23, 2022
What Haunts Us by Annie Phan
What Haunts Us
by Annie Phan
published in Rust & Moth, Autumn 2020
In the villages of my grandmother, they warn youof the child who beckonsyou to follow them deep into the forest,offers a heavy loaf of bread.You will choke on the stone in your throatand die hungrylike the little child.
In my hometown, they warn youof the woman in white who wailsfor her children along the arroyos,the ones she drowned by her own hand.La Llorona will pull at you to follow her.Maybe this ...
October 19, 2022
Plums by Gillian Clarke
Plums
by Gillian Clarke
When their time comes they fallwithout wind, without rain.They seep through the trees’ muslinin a slow fermentation.
Daily the low sun warms themin a late love that is sweeterthan summer. In bed at nightwe hear heartbeat of fruitfall.
The secretive slugs crawl hometo the burst honeys, are foundin the morning mouth on mouth,inseparable.
We spread patchwork counterpanesfor a clean catch. Baskets fill,never before such harvest,such a hunters’ moon burning
t...
October 16, 2022
To the Young Who Want to Die by Gwendolyn Brooks
To the Young Who Want to Die
by Gwendolyn Brooks
Sit down. Inhale. Exhale.
The gun will wait. The lake will wait.
The tall gall in the small seductive vial
will wait will wait:
will wait a week: will wait through April.
You do not have to die this certain day.
Death will abide, will pamper your postponement.
I assure you death will wait. Death has
a lot of time. Death can
attend to you tomorrow. Or next week. Death is
just down the street; is most obliging neighbor;
can meet you any moment.
Y...
You are Spring: Poetry Prompt
This week's writing prompt takes its own inspiration from Gwendolyn Brooks and her poem (also posted on this blog today), "To the Young Who Want to Die."
First, choose a group that your poem will address. It can be anything from the termites in our lake cabin to motorcyclists without helmets, the nurses caring for my neighbor to the Terra Cotta Soldiers, the maple trees in the arboretum to the 2nd graders at my daughter's birthday party. Brooks chose a very specific group, and so should you.
...October 12, 2022
About Almonds and Ambergris by Lorna Goodison
About Almonds and Ambergris
by Lorna Goodison
Atlanta Review, Spring/Summer 2019 issue
There is a perfume rising off the sea today.
A scent of almond top notes and base notes of ambergris.
I think about ambergris, a griege ball of scent starter
coiled in the stomach of sperm whales or rolling free,
a pomander perfuming the waters of oceans.
Did Jonah know that he was valuable as ambergris
sought after and needed to touch pulse points?
I meditate upon these matters this day as I lie
upo...
October 9, 2022
You're Such a Softie: Poetry Prompt
Think of, or--better yet--get ahold of something very soft.
It could be a blanket, moss, your own hair, a feather, a cashmere scarf, shaving cream, flower petals, cotton balls, taffy, you pet's fur, an eraser, a marshmallow, a ball of yarn, a mushroom, a silk blouse, fuzzy slippers, a stuffed animal, whipped cream, etc.
Feel this thing, or think of it intensely.
Write your answers to the following questions. Don't worry yet about form, line breaks, diction, etc.--just write.
Your item fee...
Residual Memory of Mercy by Nicole Rollender
Residual Memory of Mercy
by Nicole Rollender
published in typishly
Everything is the hopesprung phantom
of something else. I married
that man, the next morning for a moment
not knowing why I was tucked
in his bed. He collects spoons’
shiny reserve, clay pots of lush succulents,
handmade soaps smelling of spiced apples &
wet horsehair. He moves through me
as through a quiet house.
As if he has thought what he will
do when I die.
He says I’m dark fruit.
A wind moving outside myself.
A s...
October 5, 2022
Rural Gothic by Despy Boutris
Rural Gothic
by Despy Boutris
published in Zócalo Public Square, April 16, 2021
Loneliness thick as the fields of wheat. Wheat I walk throughdaily, scent of heat and silt. It shimmers in the breeze, the sun unfurling over the hills. I stand at the edge,cupping my mouth around someone’s name. A cloud of gnats makes chaos of the August air. We need a word for this:feeling far from home when you’re right there. And what is to miss but a catch in the throat, the scentof spoiled frui...
October 2, 2022
Go Negative: Poetry Prompt
For this week's prompt, I'd like you to write a negative poem.
I am not talking about the speaker's attitude, necessarily: the tone, subject, and theme of your poem does not have to be negative. This exercise is more concerned with diction.
Below are some ideas for how to approach this prompt.
You can:
stress what not to do, who not to speak with, where not to go, etc.
write a poem in which the speaker gives advice in the negative.
start with a negative first line and stay negative, then...
On the Turning of the Year by Karen An-Hwei Lee
On the Turning of the Year
by Karen An-Hwei Lee
published in Spoon River Poetry Review, Issue 43.2, Winter 2018
To witness five seventeen-year cicada
cycles in a lifetime—To hear an entomologist refer to cycles
as blooms—
To say a metallic clicking noise repels the crows in our apple
orchard—To say cicada blooms explain the crashing
bird populations—
To list reasons why I wish to murmur injunctions of praise
in the ellipses of fireflies—To wonder if a funicular monikered...
