Found from an old site, part of a 30 poems in 30 days challenge. This is from ten years ago.
Just a few snippets from that time ten years ago, since I am submitting a revised/ edited full version for publication and don’t want to have this considered published.
i did not rush, hot, now.
i forgot how.
i forgot poetry would end
coffee at midnight, phone calls
in the middle of the night
would all end
i did not rush, hot, now.
i forgot how.
Publications, Laura Lee
Some of my poems, short stories, and nonfiction articles are included online and in print books and magazines published in the UK, Greece, India, New Zealand, and the United States. Many thanks to the staff at these publications.
“Devastation,” a poem, August 2019, in Headline Poetry.
“Havishammed +1,” a poem, August 2019, online and in print edition available through amazon.com and at High Shelf Press.
“Where You Are Not,” a poem, June 2019, Esthetic Apostle, here.
“Swamp Pearls,” a poem, May 2019, in Prometheus Dreaming, here.
“Not Sleep,” a poem, in Cagibi: A Literary Space, April 2019, here: Cagibi.
“The Professor and the Gravel,” a poem, 2019, at Wingless Dreamer.
“Saltwater Faces,” an ekphrastic poem inspired by paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago, High Shelf Press, 2018, here.
“Click,” “The Night is our First Language,” and “They Left the Bed,” poetry published in The Poetic Bond VIII print issue, December 2018. Available at Poetic Bond VIII.
“Moving Gravel” a short story at Crack the Spine – Themed Anthology Submissions, “Routine”, print edition, 2018. Available at Crack the Spine Anthology.
“Walk with Child,” a poem, in Snapdragon Journal, September 2018, “Here and Gone” theme, here.
Coffin Bell Journal,2018, “Herstory,” a poem, October 2018. here.
Spillwords Press, “Stopped,” a poem, 2018, here.
Tuck Magazine, June 2018, “Teach to Kill” http://tuckmagazine.com/2018/06/06/poetry-1528/.
Tuck Magazine, May 2018, “Refuge,” http://tuckmagazine.com/2018/05/29/poetry-1511/.
Southernmost Point Guest House (UK), poetry.
Journal of Modern Poetry 21 (Volume 21), “Hell, No,” a poem at JOMP Volume 21 Dear Mr. President.
Journal of Modern Poetry 20 (Volume 20), “Moonlit Awakening,” JOMP Volume 20 Poetry Writer’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Journal of Modern Poetry 18 (Volume 18), The Official Poets Guide to Peace, two poems: “Open” and “After Poetry Class.” 2015. Purchase here.
Journal of Modern Poetry 17 (Volume 17), JOMP Volume 17.
Cram Volume 12: “White Board Clown,” 2011. Chicago Poetry Press 2011.
Magazine (New Zealand) , Raewyn Alexander, Publisher, nonfiction and poetry. Raewyn Alexander NZ.
Fiction in: http://staxtes.com/2003/ “Between the Sunlight and the Skipping” in English Wednesdays
Poetry in: https://poetsagainstthewar.org/ archives.
Illinois English Bulletin, a publication of the National Council of Teachers of English, nonfiction article about teaching in an alternative education program.
Poetry in Marginalia, Elmhurst, IL.
This has been a touching day. A former colleague reached out and asked me to join/ read her blog dedicated to her brother’s memory. I waited a while, then read…about a missing brother, found dead after 62 days, and what that meant to her family.
A nightmare… missing, dead… found dead by my friend. Her mom doesn’t know anyone saw the body… in that condition… so much more I don’t wish to say.
I don’t know why she reached out to me, but social media let her find me.
I remember my friend L as a kind, witty, hardworking science teacher. I was the literacy coach in the building, often a hated person. But L was kind and worked with me, let me into her classroom. And then I got transferred to another school and we lost touch until recently.
After read her blog, I was stunned and also very aware of what a privilege it was to be trusted with this knowledge. How should I respectfully reply?
I asked L if I could write a poem about sisters and brothers for her, and that while I don’t know her situation exactly, I am old enough to have known much grief. L had a broken heart, and I know about broken hearts.
I thought of the many years I looked for my brother in different ways, estranged due to our father’s many violences. All the longing to find him over the many years. The late nights, the silent mornings. The bird songs that found me still awake.
I gave L the poem, knowing there is nothing good I could say that would make any of this okay. Brothers don’t go missing then get found… like that… but of course they do. In real life, horrible things happen.
L liked the poem and posted it on her blog so her family members could read it as well.
I am very happy that literacy could help me reach her, that reading led her to find me, that poetry helped me reach her. It’s a small thing, but I hope positive.
And this is a small tale of how literacy can help lives and how literacy can help us reach each other, heart to heart, mind to mind. And the special place of poetry to be personal and universal at the same time.
ROUGH DRAFT. to edit. Revise.
Just a few snippets from that time ten years ago, since I am submitting a revised/ edited full version for publication and don’t want to have this considered published.
The Nine Month Sentence
Stunned. Nine months of
little sun, closed streaked windows to follow.
We had not
used our summer well.
We had not slept
under the June blue sky,
toes curled in fresh green.
…We might
flee with them.
Can any topic be used for a poem? A narrative of a father drunk vomiting… agreeing to drive daughter to work during a winter storm–how can that be in a poem? I’m feeling the story wants to be a poem–or am I being influenced too much by Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays?”
Because I have been reading poetry and keep coming back to “what did I know” This father is not a farmer, but a father who wasn’t always drunk and sometimes tried to help his daughter get to work so she could save money for college. (When he wasn’t waiting for her paycheck to “give it home,” if he was drunk on payday—before direct deposits.)
Because no, maybe fiction would be better. The father heaving, vomiting between telling Lo he will, he should drive her to work in a storm, not to walk in the storm. Lo wondering… can she trust Da to drive her?
Fun to explore the decision of what genre would be best for a narrative. Interesting to learn what these characters insist on–poetry, my usual genre, or fiction?
Da Girl
Da, girl says
Are you sure you can drive?
Five minutes, he says.
Tap-water instant
Coffee effort Not doing it.
Can you boil water, Lo,
can you?
Five minutes more, he says,
Don’t walk, I hear
The storm.
Da, she whispers,
I’ll lost my job,
Searching the sideways blizzard.
***And a link to Hayden’s poem: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46461/those-winter-sundays
Just something I found on an old flash drive. Will edit, revise, see where it goes.
Just a few snippets from that time ten years ago, since I am submitting a revised/ edited full version for publication and don’t want to have this considered published.
Little sister
you are not alone
sometimes I am
in your dreams
purring
a pink cat who speaks.
And sometimes
I am at the top of the stairs
thrusting
limbs forward
as a shield.
Little sister, sometimes
I am in between the lines of
words from decades ago
straight to your mirror.
Happy to have a poem published today (“Devastation”) at Headline Poetry.
The history of the poem arises from when I taught ELL years ago. It was around 2002. I taught with a colleague who was a refugee from Sarajevo. She survived the siege–and the stories she told still haunt me.
Thanks to the editors at Headline Poetry.
Photo credit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
John Spencer | March 28, 2019
Just a few snippets, since I hope to submit a revised/ edited full version for publication and don’t want to have this considered published.
Moth Mate
Moth to a
Fake flame
Candle, lit
To accompany
Mid summer’s night
Solitude
White flint
Small gold flutter
Before any
Dawn songs.
(I wanted to see what I could do with this learning and healing time. Can I observe more? Can I see what I don’t really see on a busy workday? What do you do, what do I do with those middle of the night silences? The crickets have stops singing. The cicadas have not yet started their trilling. And I am waiting to learn when the robins start their dawn songs.
I shall find out soon.
I hear frogs now. They’ve joined us.
And I’m trying to find out what can I do with my limited mobility and access right now to Technology.
This was created in the hopes of making meaning out of silence and pain.
Dare I send from my iPhone? So unliterary.
But this to me also speaks of the power of literacy to sustain.
I turn to words.)
sent from my iphone
Publications, Laura Lee
Some of my poems, short stories, and nonfiction articles are included online and in print books and magazines published in the UK, Greece, India, New Zealand, and the United States. Many thanks to the staff at these publications.
“Devastation,” a poem, August 2019, in Headline Poetry.Details to follow.
“Havishammed +1,” a poem, August 2019, High Shelf Press.
“Where You Are Not,” a poem, June 2019, Esthetic Apostle.
“Swamp Pearls,” a poem, May 2019, here at: Prometheus Dreaming.
“Not Sleep,” a poem, in Cagibi: A Literary Space, April 2019, here: Cagibi.
“The Professor and the Gravel,” a poem, 2019, at Wingless Dreamer.
“Saltwater Faces,” an ekphrastic poem inspired by paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago, High Shelf Press, 2018, https://www.highshelfpress.com/saltwaterfaces.
“Click,” “The Night is our First Language,” and “They Left the Bed,” poetry published in The Poetic Bond VIII print issue, December 2018. Available at Poetic Bond VIII.
“Moving Gravel” a short story at Crack the Spine – Themed Anthology Submissions, “Routine”, print edition, 2018. Available at Crack the Spine Anthology.
“Walk with Child” at https://www.snapdragonjournal.com/ September 2018 Issue, “Here and Gone.” http://pub.lucidpress.com/9b90935e-82ec-4edd-a09e-725a9cf574b8/#Vu72fBijlewR
Coffin Bell Journal,2018, “Herstory,” October 2018. https://coffinbell.com/herstory-lesson/
Spillwords Press, “Stopped,” 2018, http://spillwords.com/stopped/.
Tuck Magazine, June 2018, “Teach to Kill” http://tuckmagazine.com/2018/06/06/poetry-1528/.
Tuck Magazine, May 2018, “Refuge,” http://tuckmagazine.com/2018/05/29/poetry-1511/.
Southernmost Point Guest House (UK), poetry.
Journal of Modern Poetry 21 (Volume 21), “Hell, No,” a poem at JOMP Volume 21 Dear Mr. President.
Journal of Modern Poetry 20 (Volume 20), “Moonlit Awakening,” JOMP Volume 20 Poetry Writer’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Journal of Modern Poetry 18 (Volume 18), The Official Poets Guide to Peace, two poems: “Open” and “After Poetry Class.” 2015. Purchase here.
Journal of Modern Poetry 17 (Volume 17), JOMP Volume 17.
Cram Volume 12: “White Board Clown,” 2011. Chicago Poetry Press 2011.
Magazine (New Zealand) , Raewyn Alexander, Publisher, nonfiction and poetry. Raewyn Alexander NZ.
Fiction in: http://staxtes.com/2003/ “Between the Sunlight and the Skipping” in English Wednesdays
Poetry in: https://poetsagainstthewar.org/ archives.
Illinois English Bulletin, a publication of the National Council of Teachers of English, nonfiction article about teaching in an alternative education program.
Poetry in Marginalia, Elmhurst, IL.
Laura Lee 