It Will Have Been So Beautiful by Amanda Shaw

(Thank you to Poetic Book Tours for providing me with the opportunity to review this book!)

 

about book:

With urgency and compassion, humor and wonder, Amanda Shaw’s It Will Have Been So Beautiful examines the many dimensions of what it means to call anything “home,” including the earth as we know it. In a manner reminiscent of Eugène Atget, who wrote “will disappear” on his photographs of turn-of-the-century Paris, Shaw captures the unique melancholy of living in a time of unknowable change.

As she explores the line between love and loss, Shaw implores us to find a more profound commitment to life in all its forms. At times playful and ironic, the poems celebrate language’s sonic capacities, probing art’s potential to move us from mourning to joy.

Advance Praise:

Alan Shapiro, acclaimed author of “Life Pig,” describes Shaw’s debut as “a beautiful and troubling book.” Shaw’s intelligence breathes life into every line, offering a rich, complex, and startlingly vivid exploration of the impact of the “enlightened” West juxtaposed with a poignant portrayal of the best and worst aspects of humanity.

Nathan McClain, author of “Previously Owned,” praises Shaw’s collection, noting that it is as interested in language itself as what language can create. With an “ear attuned to silences,” Shaw navigates the complexity of human interactions, addressing topics such as illness, home, love, and loss. The energetic collection uses a rich, musical dialect that resonates with the reader.

About the Poet:

From the time she learned to read her first word — “Boom!” — Amanda Shaw has been in love with literature and language. She earned a BA in English from Smith College and has advanced degrees in education and writing. Equally at ease in a high school classroom and a World Bank boardroom, she is an expert teacher who continues to share her belief in the power of words with students of all ages.

Amanda began her career at a public high school in Brooklyn, where she was committed to student-centered curriculum and staff development as part of NYC’s small schools movement. After nine years in the city, she moved on to teaching ESL internationally and domestically, first in Rome and now in Washington DC. Witnessing poetry’s unique impact on students’ intellectual and emotional development galvanized her own writing. In 2020, she received her MFA from the Warren Wilson Program for Writers.

In addition to actively participating in local and online writing communities, Amanda is the book review editor for Lily Poetry Review Books, where she supports emerging writers. Lily Poetry Review Books will publish her debut collection, It Will Have Been So Beautiful, in March 2024. The poems, written over 15 years, explore love and loss in personal and global contexts. For the past four years, Amanda has divided her time between New Hampshire, where she was born, and Washington, DC. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

my thoughts:

Poetry is thoughtful and precise. It can be endearing and heart wrenching. I love reading poems - they wake me up and shake me up. So, I was thrilled to get my hands on a copy of Amanda Shaw's debut collection of poems titled, It Will Have Been So Beautiful. Talk about the perfect treat to remedy a months-long reading drought. I picked up this book and could not stop reading. I fell in deep and loved every second spent with these poems about life, loss, identity, and home. It was all about the human experience and it was ace. I loved it!

Shaw's creativity thrummed throughout the pages. There was humor and candor within the vivid images and her clever observations were peppered with insight. What a wonderful book of poems! I highly recommend any and all fans of poetry to grab a copy ASAP - you won't want to miss out on Shaw's poetic prowess!

Thank you to Poetic Book Tours for providing me with the opportunity to review this book!

Portraits Of Red And Gray: Memoir Poems by James C. Morehead

(Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book!)

 

about book:

Take an unforgettable journey from the Cold War USSR to Savery, Wyoming, from the mountains of Tuscany to the peak of Yosemite’s Half Dome, from the Canadian wilderness to the beaches of Normandy. James Morehead’s (Poet Laureate – Dublin, California) acclaimed collection is built around a series of memoir poems that takes readers into pre-perestroika Soviet Union through the eyes of a teenager, from Moscow to Tbilisi to Leningrad (and many stops in-between). The striking cover, designed by Zoe Norvell, is based on a 1982 lithograph by Igor Prilutsky.

my thoughts:

Portraits Of Red And Gray: Memoir Poems by James C. Morehead is a smart and moving collection of poetry. I loved it. 

The poems evoke a sense of nostalgia and provide such a clear picture of life, that you can't help but get caught up in them. I really enjoyed reading about Morehead's life through his careful and clever prose. His poems are like time capsules from various moments of his life history and it is fascinating. 

I would happily recommend Portraits Of Red And Gray: Memoir Poems by James C. Morehead to anyone and everyone looking for their next great poetry read - you will LOVE this book bits! Make sure to check it out!

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book!

If The Sky Won't Have Me: Poems by Anne Leigh Parrish

(Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book!)

 

about book: (summary from Goodreads)

The poems in If The Sky Won’t Have Me weave a brilliant tapestry of the human condition, focusing on nature, the female experience, family drama, aging, politics, and regret. Images of water feature strongly, as do rebirth and regeneration, both physical and spiritual. A perfect sequel to the author’s debut collection, the moon won’t be dared, these poems expand and deepen our understanding of what it means to be alive in a complex world.

my thoughts:

Love, love, love National Poetry Month. I find myself devouring poems every day and just savoring them throughout the week. It's such a treat in April, especially, when the weather is so crazy and the news is so dire. So, imagine how happy I was to get my hands on a copy of new-to-me poet, Anne Leigh Parrish's,  latest poetry collection, If The Sky Won't Have Me: Poems - hurrah! I was thrilled to bits!

This beautiful book is filled with amazing poetry that I can't stop thinking about, along with beautiful images scattered throughout. It is such a lovely book to get lost in and spend time with. The poems are chock full of powerful lines and vivid imagery, that you can't help but imagine so clearly in your mind. I really enjoyed this book so much. It's definitely one of my new favorites. 

I would happily recommend If The Sky Won't Have Me: Poems by Anne Leigh Parrish to anyone and everyone looking for a new poetry book  - you are going to fall in LOVE with this one! Make sure to check it out!

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book!

Our Wolves by Luanne Castle

(Thank you to the Poetic Book Tours and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book!)

 

about book: (summary from Goodreads)

Our Wolves looks at the identity of wolves in our everyday lives and the varied ways of viewing the wolf. For example, this character cannot be seen as merely bad or even redeemed or misunderstood, as in some interpretations of the fairy tale. Similarly, “Little Red” is not simply a victim or a representation of innocence. Instead, this collection reveals the tale as a conduit for many voices and interpretations of gender, identity, and feminism.

my thoughts:

Love, love, love! Luanne Castle's new poetry book, Our Wolves, is creative and unique. Inspired by the classic fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood, she writes poems that reimagine the characters and reinterpret their story - talk about a clever way of exploring gender and identity. These poems were heartfelt and engaging. I enjoyed slipping in and out of the book, so that I could devour each piece slowly. These poems depict "Little Red" coming of age and sometimes her journey is not an easy one to take in. 

Castle has created a fantastic collection of poetry that her readers will enjoy reading again and again. I would happily recommend Our Wolves to anyone and everyone looking for their next poetry fix - you are going to fall in deep with these poems.  So, make sure to check out this book ASAP!

Thank you to Poetic Book Tours and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book!

Super Sad Black Girl by Diamond Sharp

(Thank you to Haymarket Books for providing me with a copy of this book!)

about book:

Diamond Sharp’s Super Sad Black Girl is a love letter to her hometown of Chicago, where the speaker finds solace and community with her literary idols in hopes of answering the question: What does it look like when Black women are free? 

Lorraine Hansberry and Gwendolyn Brooks appear throughout these poems, counseling the speaker as she navigates her own depression and exploratory questions about the “Other Side,” as do Sandra Bland, Rekia Boyd, and other Black women who have been murdered by police. 

Sharp’s poetry is self-assured, playful, and imaginative, reminiscent of Langston Hughes with its precision and brevity. The book explores purgatorial, in-between spaces that the speaker occupies as she struggles to find a place and time where she can live safely and freely. With her skillful use of repetition, particularly in her series of concrete poems, lines and voices echo across the book so the reader, too, feels suspended within Sharp’s lyric moments. Super Sad Black Girl is a compassionate and ethereal depiction of mental illness from a promising and powerful poet.

my thoughts:

Wow! Super Sad Black Girl by Diamond Sharp is poetry at its very best. I fell in deep with this book of poems that explores depression, bipolar disorder, mental health, and living in an unknown state of mind and within the world. Talk about smart, emotional, and thought-provoking poems. Love, love, love!

Sharp's words ache with such force,  you can't help but feel pierced by them.  It is raw, personal, and very real. Her poems were lyrical and used repetition to their advantage. Reading them made you feel them and that experience was just eye-opening. It felt like you were peeking inside of her brain and it was enthralling. What a book!

I would definitely recommend Super Sad Black Girl to anyone and everyone looking for their next book of poetry - you will not want to miss out on this one! Make sure to check it out!!

Thank you to Haymarket Books for providing me with a copy of this book!

The Lamps Of History by Michael Sandler

(Thank you to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book!)

 about book:

The Lamps of History wrestles with the ambiguities—and choices—between connection/alienation, renewal/decay, and faith/doubt. Its poems explore family histories and our stance toward them as they dim, frayed bonds with our grandparents’ traditions and beliefs, and distances ingrained in our current relationships. There are also poems on our civic estrangements: an ode to a papaya that spills into America’s tribal conflict; elegies to the environment (one on disappearing phytoplankton, another on forests ravaged by pine beetles); a ghazal to a semi-automatic weapon; and a failed recipe for noodle pudding. Michael Sandler’s writing marshals wit and wordplay in a deft handling of language and form. The poetry navigates the crosscurrents of tradition and post-modernism, steering somewhat closer to the former. Poet and editor George Bishop concludes: “This language is addictive. A stunning sense of place and story. To be read and read again.”

my thoughts: 

Poetry is where it's at. I always enjoy reading new-to-me poems and finding new poetry to fall in deep with. So, I was excited to get my hands on a copy of Michael Sandler's book, The Lamps of History. It's a fantastic collection of poems that cover a wide range of topics: family, relationships, the environment, and politics. I found myself dipping in and out of the book every day. I just loved Sandler's use of language and how he was able to evoke such vivid imagery and powerful emotions. It was fascinating to experience each poem - I would read a poem and let the tone settle in and then read it again and let the words sink in. It was such a great reading experience. 

I'd definitely recommend Sandler's book, The Lamps of History, to fans of poetry - you will LOVE this book!  

Here's the link to the TLC Book Tour schedule for: The Lamps Of History

Thank you to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book!

How to Love the Empty Air by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz

(Thank you to the publisher and Poetic Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book!)

about book:

Vulnerable, beautiful and ultimately life-affirming, Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz’s work reaches new heights in her revelatory seventh collection of poetry. Continuing in her tradition of engaging autobiographical work, How to Love the Empty Air explores what happens when the impossible becomes real―for better and for worse. Aptowicz’s journey to find happiness and home in her ever-shifting world sees her struggling in cities throughout America. When her luck changes―in love and in life―she can’t help but “tell the sun / tell the fields / tell the huge Texas sky…. / tell myself again and again until I believe it.” However, the upward trajectory of this new life is rocked by the sudden death of the poet’s mother. In the year that follows, Aptowicz battles the silencing power of grief with intimate poems burnished by loss and a hard-won humor, capturing the dance that all newly grieving must do between everyday living and the desire “to elope with this grief, / who is not your enemy, / this grief who maybe now is your best friend. / This grief, who is your husband, / the thing you curl into every night, / falling asleep in its arms…” As in her award-winning The Year of No Mistakes, Aptowicz counts her losses and her blessings, knowing how despite it all, life “ripples boundless, like electricity, like joy / like… laughter, irresistible and bright, / an impossible thing to contain.”

How to Love the Empty Air brilliantly illuminates why we read poetry, and why poetry is needed. We read it to see another person’s unique experience, but also to help us clarify our own. And we read it to reassure ourselves that what we experience and feel it part of a larger human drama that we all share. Cristin reminds readers how huge, life-shifting events are totally unique and personal—and yet, they are also universal.

my thoughts:

Wow. Just wow.

Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz' book of poems titled, How to Love the Empty Air, is absolutely amazing.  It is filled with beautiful, heartbreaking, and unforgettable poetry.  Every second I spent with this book was pure bliss. I am a lover of words and a lover of poetry.  This book was seriously one of the best books of poetry I've read in ages. It was thoughtful, engaging, and emotional. The poems were extraordinary in their ability to capture the essence of grief and loss so authentically and realistically.

I can see myself reading this book again and again; highlighting, memorizing, and writing these poems down in my journal. This book will sit on my shelf for years to come and I will pick it up when I need to be reminded of the universal nature of grief and loss.  Aptowicz is a must-read poet.  She creates emotions and truths with her words in such a relatable manner, you can't help but connect with her poetry.  I would definitely recommend this book to her fans and to poetry lovers looking for a new book of poems to fall in love with.

Here's the link to the Poetic Book Tours schedule for: How to Love the Empty Air

Thank you to the publisher and Poetic Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book!

GIVEAWAY & REVIEW: The Antigone Poems by Marie Slaight and Drawings by Terrence Tasker

(Thank you to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book!)

about book:

Featuring poetry by Marie Slaight and charcoal drawings by Terrence Tasker, The Antigone Poems was created in the 1970’s, while the artists were living between Montreal and Toronto. An intensely personal invocation of the ancient Greek tale of defiance, the illustrations and poetry capture the despair of the original tale in an unembellished modernized rendition.   The Antigone Poems provides a special expedition into the depths of the ancient Sophocles tragedy while questioning  power, punishment and one of mythology’s oldest themes: rebellion.

To learn more about The Antigone Poems, please visit TheAntigonePoems.com. 

my thoughts:

Poetry is my jam; which is why I chose to share some of my favorite poems with you throughout April aka National Poetry Month.   So, imagine my excitement when I heard about The Antigone Poems ?  A book of  poems and illustrations centered on a character from Greek mythology - how awesome does that sound?  Extremely awesome to me.

Created in the 1970s, The Antigone Poems, feels timeless with its feminist bent on the retelling of Antigone's story.  A tale centered on rebellion and filled with darkness, pain, and despair.  In Sophocles' play, Antigone tries to bury her brother in a respectable place, but is punished due to the fact that it was against the law to even mourn for him.  She's locked away and found having hung herself.  Talk about tragic.  Through her poetry Slaight introduces us to the struggles and suffering that women endure via the character of Antigone.  She employs language in a way that is passionate, wild, and mesmerizing.  Her imagery is spellbinding.  I was truly riveted by Slaight's poetry.  As for Tasker's charcoal drawings - oh my!  They were haunting, emotional, and unforgettable.  His drawings enriched the somber tone of the book.  I swear the poetry and drawings went together perfectly! I absolutely loved The Antigone Poems.  Not only did I fall in love with Slaight's poetry and Tasker's drawings, but I am now interested in reading more of Sophocles' plays.  Perhaps I'll thrown in some of Euripides' plays as well.  Don't you just love it when one book inspires you to read another - that is truly the mark of a great book.  I would most definitely recommend The Antigone Poems to fans of poetry and Greek mythology - you will LOVE this book!


GIVEAWAY:  Thanks to the publisher, I'm able to give away ONE copy of The Antigone Poems.  So, if you want the chance to experience some truly great poetry, just leave me a comment telling me who your favorite poet is.  Don't forget to include your email address, so that I can contact you if your name is chosen.  Last date to enter is 5/20/2015.  Good luck!!!

Here's the link to the TLC Book Tour schedule for: The Antigone Poems

Thank you to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book!

Lust: Poems by Diana Raab

(Thank you to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book!)

about book:

In her fourth book of poetry, Raab employs narrative verse that is alive, titillating, and seductive. Lust examines the emotional and physical complexity of love, helping readers navigate the risks of intimacy as we move toward the realization that every experience enriches our lives, whether we perceive it as joy, pain, or out of the ordinary. Yet for all their psychological richness, the poems’ simplicity and accessibility will resonate with women and men across all walks of life. Lust is a book you won’t put down and won’t soon forget.

my thoughts:

Poetry is one of my favorite genres of writing.  I love the melody of the words, the emotionally charged stanzas, and the powerful images it can create.  Poems are like music to me - they leave a lasting and lingering impression that I can recite lines for days (just like I do with song lyrics.)  So, when I was given the opportunity to read Diana Raab's latest book of poetry, Lust, I eagerly agreed.  I wanted someone new to read and these poems sounded like the perfect fit for my curious reading mood.

Luckily, Lust by Diana Raab turned out to be the right pick for me.  Filled with sensual, provocative, and uninhibited poems, this book shocked and energized me.  I found myself riveted by Raab's exploration of long-term and short-term relationships through 'lust' and 'sex'.  The physical and emotional aspects of seduction, fantasy, and addiction made for some rather titillating reading.  And the raw, honest manner in which she writes created some very engaging narratives.  Plus, her poems celebrate intimacy with such fervor and passion, that I couldn't help but want to keep reading her work.  In fact, I'm looking forward to reading more of Raab's poetry in the future.

Lust is a book of poems that I would recommend to fans of Diana Raab and fans of poetry - you will fall in love with this book! Check it out!  Here's the TLC Book Tour schedule for: Lust

Thank you to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book!

A Sandra Cisneros Poem...

Old Maids
by Sandra Cisneros

My cousins and I,
we don't marry.
We're too old
by Mexican standards.

And the relatives
have long suspected
we can't anymore
in white.

My cousins and I,
we're all old
maids at thirty.

Who won't
dress children,
and never
saints -
though
we undress them.

The aunts,
they've given up on us.
No longer nudge - You're next.

Instead -
What happened in your childhood?
What left you all mean teens?
Who hurt you, honey?

But we've studied
marriages too long -

Aunt Ariadne,
Tia Vashti,
Comadre Penelope
querida Malintzin
Señora Pumpkin Shell -

lessons that served us well.

Source: Loose Woman (1994)

National Poetry Month begins...NOW!!!

April may be considered the "cruellest month"by some (T.S. Eliot), but it is also the month we celebrate poetry.  So, to kick off the first day of National Poetry Month, here is one of my favorite poems.  Enjoy!

The Journey
by Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice—
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do—
determined to save
the only life you could save.

Our Held Animal Breath: Poems by Kathryn Kirkpatrick

(Thank you to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book!)

about book:

Our Held Animal Breath is a collection of poems grappling with the failure of human political and social structures to effectively address the dilemmas of our crucial historical moment.  Registering an eco-feminist consciousness, the narrators of these poems expose the intertwined vulnerabilities of women, animals, and the land to masculinist agendas of mastering nature for profit.

Poems in the opening section explore the ways powerful elites compromise the habitats of human and non-human animals alike.  The lives of tethered foxes, bewildered squirrels, displaced buffalo, and factory-farmed turkeys echo the lives of ordinary citizens experiencing degradation and disenfranchisement in the face of climate change, war-mongering, and political corruption. Thus, an old woman rakes leaves before dawn after a disappointing election, a gardener mulches roses with newspapers recording dire headlines, and a meditation student struggles with the consequences of a military invasion.

After establishing this broad context of ecological and political crisis, the collection moves on to poems of interior struggle where narrators confront grief over the loss of loved ones: an old friend dies suddenly and unexpectedly, a beloved cousin falls victim to domestic violence, a friendship dissolves in the aftermath of misunderstandings.  However, the poems in this section also evoke the power of animal companions and the natural world to teach alternative relations to others, to the land, and to the self.  A dying dog re-grounds his human companion in their mutual habitat, a garden landscape reorients the gardener to the limits of a friendship, and dreams suggest transformative routes through interpersonal conflicts.

Finally, in the third section, joyful alternatives emerge.  A woman rebuilds her relationship with her mother in the process of reconnecting with her local habitat.  Narrators explore creative opportunities for transformation, establish their ethical bottom lines, and re-affirm their interconnectedness with all creatures on a living, responding planet.  One narrator learns to can fruit for the first time, and in the process she rediscovers her love for her mother and her land.  Another narrator reconnects with the sexual currents in her own body.  The volume concludes with a poem depicting the held breath of a crowd watching the escape of a rabbit who has found a way to survive in an inhospitable urban environment.

my thoughts:

Poems.  Oh, how they grab you and won't let go. Their powerful words form vivid images that you can't shake from your mind.  And the raw emotion that spills from the pages drips slowly and steadily into your subconscious.  Poetry feeds you in ways that other books can't seem to.  They reach you in ways you never imagined. Seriously, they really do.  I mean, I found myself obsessed with this book - to the point that I was turning to it on a daily basis ( I only just stopped last week).  I just couldn't help myself.  Its like I would read a stanza or two, and start thinking about something from my past.  Or, the words would connect to something I was watching on the news.  It was addictive!

Our Held Animal Breath is one of the best poetry books I've read in quite some time.  Its filled with sad, angry, inspiring, and exciting poems.  They touch on topics that range from domestic violence to ecological disaster.  And, all the while, they hold you captive with their easy manner and hidden depth. They are poems you won't soon forget, because of the way they make you feel.  These poems won't leave you alone - they will stay with you for days, months, and years on end.  And that is the mark of poetry at its best (or at least I think so.)

Here's one of my favorites:

Recalling Virginia Woolf
by Kathryn Kirkpatrick

After his thirteenth confident
pronouncement
on music, poetry, politics,
I'm Lily Briscoe once more
afraid when I look again
I won't see what I see.

He's shifted a poet I love
right off the canvas.
She's flecks of paint on my shoes.
She's nice, alright, but
as if he's Adam naming
the animals and I myself
am new to the world,
just invented, bonehead
pulled from his side.

I won't beat him at this -
that's certain - his own head
more full of facts and opinions
than cellars millennialists stock
with provisions for the end of the world.

Anger stokes me all morning.
I'm the moth with the ragged wing
batting the glass pane.
Outside in the open air
swallows light on the eaves
shaking their forked tails.

What do you think? Pretty amazing, eh? Makes me want to read To The Lighthouse and it also makes me think about a boy I knew in college named Simon (he was a rather arrogant chap).   Don't you just love it when you read something and it makes you want to read something else?  Well, Kirkpatrick's poetry certainly does that to me.

So, yes, I would most definitely recommend Our Held Animal Breath to fans of poetry - I'm positive that
you will love this book!   And, if you don't believe me, then check out the TLC Book Tour page for the tour schedule and read some other reviews about this amazing book:  Our Held Animal Breath. 

And now I'm off to read some lighter fare, perhaps something in the chick lit/women's fiction genre.  Happy reading!!

Thank you to TLC Book Tours and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book!

National Poetry Month begins...NOW!

It's National Poetry Month and to celebrate I have decided to post poems on my blog throughout April.  I have a slew of favorites and just thought it would be nice to share them with you.  So, I hope you enjoy.

Freeway 280
by Lorna Dee Cervantes

Las casitas near the gray cannery,

nestled amid wild abrazos of climbing roses

and man-high red geraniums

are gone now. The freeway conceals it

all beneath a raised scar.  

But under the fake windsounds of the open lanes,

in the abandoned lots below, new grasses sprout,

wild mustard remembers, old gardens

come back stronger than they were,

trees have been left standing in their yards.

Albaricoqueros, cerezos, nogales . . .

Viejitas come here with paper bags to gather greens.

Espinaca, verdolagas, yerbabuena . . .

I scramble over the wire fence

that would have kept me out.

Once, I wanted out, wanted the rigid lanes

to take me to a place without sun,

without the smell of tomatoes burning

on swing shift in the greasy summer air.

Maybe it's here

en los campos extraños de esta ciudad

where I'll find it, that part of me

mown under like a corpse

or a loose seed.

Las casitas near the gray cannery, nestled amid wild abrazos of climbing roses and man-high red geraniums are gone now. The freeway conceals it all beneath a raised scar. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15602#sthash.OcRkPHV0.dpuf

Freeway 280

  by Lorna Dee Cervantes

Las casitas near the gray cannery,
nestled amid wild abrazos of climbing roses
and man-high red geraniums
are gone now.  The freeway conceals it
all beneath a raised scar.

But under the fake windsounds of the open lanes,
in the abandoned lots below, new grasses sprout,
wild mustard remembers, old gardens
come back stronger than they were,
trees have been left standing in their yards.
Albaricoqueros, cerezos, nogales . . .
Viejitas come here with paper bags to gather greens.
Espinaca, verdolagas, yerbabuena . . .

I scramble over the wire fence
that would have kept me out.
Once, I wanted out, wanted the rigid lanes
to take me to a place without sun,
without the smell of tomatoes burning
on swing shift in the greasy summer air.

Maybe it's here
en los campos extraños de esta ciudad
where I'll find it, that part of me
mown under
like a corpse
or a loose seed.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15602#sthash.OcRkPHV0.dpuf

Freeway 280

  by Lorna Dee Cervantes

Las casitas near the gray cannery,
nestled amid wild abrazos of climbing roses
and man-high red geraniums
are gone now.  The freeway conceals it
all beneath a raised scar.

But under the fake windsounds of the open lanes,
in the abandoned lots below, new grasses sprout,
wild mustard remembers, old gardens
come back stronger than they were,
trees have been left standing in their yards.
Albaricoqueros, cerezos, nogales . . .
Viejitas come here with paper bags to gather greens.
Espinaca, verdolagas, yerbabuena . . .

I scramble over the wire fence
that would have kept me out.
Once, I wanted out, wanted the rigid lanes
to take me to a place without sun,
without the smell of tomatoes burning
on swing shift in the greasy summer air.

Maybe it's here
en los campos extraños de esta ciudad
where I'll find it, that part of me
mown under
like a corpse
or a loose seed.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15602#sthash.OcRkPHV0.dpuf

Freeway 280

  by Lorna Dee Cervantes

Las casitas near the gray cannery,
nestled amid wild abrazos of climbing roses
and man-high red geraniums
are gone now.  The freeway conceals it
all beneath a raised scar.

But under the fake windsounds of the open lanes,
in the abandoned lots below, new grasses sprout,
wild mustard remembers, old gardens
come back stronger than they were,
trees have been left standing in their yards.
Albaricoqueros, cerezos, nogales . . .
Viejitas come here with paper bags to gather greens.
Espinaca, verdolagas, yerbabuena . . .

I scramble over the wire fence
that would have kept me out.
Once, I wanted out, wanted the rigid lanes
to take me to a place without sun,
without the smell of tomatoes burning
on swing shift in the greasy summer air.

Maybe it's here
en los campos extraños de esta ciudad
where I'll find it, that part of me
mown under
like a corpse
or a loose seed.

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