One of the tensions in the world of art is the involvement of audience… in fact, the questions exists somewhere (*nudge nudge wink wink to JC*) of whether or not art is even art without an audience.
I’ve been writing for some time now in many ways and forms, most of it never exposed to an audience. This won’t constitute anything like a Random House paperback, but I did want to share some of my creative stuff on this site.
Without further ado then are three poems. One of them I actually consider “finished” – the others I am not so sure about. I won’t tell you which one. Comments are MORE THAN welcome and appreciated… comments of any nature provided they are, ultimately, constructive.
Dec. 23rd
Up this path
is the old stone fireplace -
crumbling – its guts spilling
out in broken pieces
on a bed of skeletal straw
and yellow-gold weeds
that crunch were I walk.
Inside the hearth,
where its ancestors crumpled
into flecks of flaming dust,
a small tree is breaking
up into the thick matter -
sprawling green in
a pile of dark ash -
unaware of the meaning of the
blood that floats black
in the sky.
surprise
disconcerting, really,
to lay my head flat
against the earth’s curve -
eyes closed -
and
upon opening
find myself unflung -
moored, still, to
the bare core
despite the absence
of ropes and tethers
Feasting
I’d like to hold—
at the back of my mouth—
the clammy weight
of cold stone,
the aftertaste of copper
resin, settling;
the thick, crumbly fullness
of moss breaking apart
at my saliva,
to eat the forest in this way—
by handfuls
and sip the thirty shades of blue
with a straw
from the dawn sky.
-01.06

3 comments
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November 28, 2007 at 5:57 am
Jenn
i’m proud of you for posting these. i’m proud of you for your multiple-entry streak. when i think of the tenacity it takes to become a good writer, i think of you. because you work at it and you are good. i envy you and your words.
November 29, 2007 at 12:51 am
Anonymous
And jc is most proud of you for having the courage to embrace your art and your audience… I’d argue that they are all “finished” (although I have a favorite but am not telling).
December 5, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Allan
I think “Surprise” is finished. The other are too, shall we say, “visceral” for me. While it is certainly evocative of the image you’re going for, I’m more theoretical than earthy. I bet they’d appeal to a Wordsworth audience though. This should help you as you profile potential audiences for your work.