A few poems for sheltering in place during Poetry Month

~
. . .  And
I am an enemy
of change, as
you know.  All
the things I
embrace as new
are in
fact old things,
re-released: swimming,
the sensation of
being dirty in
body and mind
summer as a
time to do
nothing and make
no money.  Prayer
as a last re-
sort.  Pleasure
as a means,
and then a
means again
with no ends
in sight. . . .

--From "Peanut Butter," a poem by Eileen Myles, from her book Not Me (Semiotext(e), 1991).  This poem was recently featured on the Ploughshares blog in a post called "Three Poems of Ordinary Exuberance for Uncertain Times," an essay by Ariel Katz (March 18, 2020). 


I have this, and this isn’t a mouth
       full of the names of odd flowers

I’ve grown in secret.
       I know none of these by name

but have this garden now,
       and pastel somethings bloom

near the others and others.
       I have this trowel, these overalls,

this ridiculous hat now.
       This isn’t a lung full of air.

--From "I Have This Way of Being," a poem by Jamaal May (2016).

An older woman in full traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, just
like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing.  "Help,"
said the flight agent.  "Talk to her.  What is her problem?  We
told her the flight was going to be late and she did this."

I stooped to put my arm around the woman and spoke haltingly.
"Shu-dow-a, Shu-bid-uck Habibti?  Stani schway, Min fadlick, Shu-bit-
se-wee?"  The minute she heard any words she knew, however poorly
used, she stopped crying.  She thought the flight had been cancelled
entirely.  She needed to be in El Paso for major medical treatment the
next day.  I said, "No, we’re fine, you'll get there, just later, who is
picking you up?  Let’s call him."

--From "Gate A-4," a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye, from her children's collection Honeybee (HarperCollins, 2008), pp. 162-164.


A man leaves the world 

and the streets he lived on 

grow a little shorter. 

One more window dark 

in this city, the figs on his branches 

will soften for birds.

--From "Streets," a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye, from her book Words Under the Words (Eighth Mountain Press, 1995).

It is December and we must be brave.

The ambulance’s rose of light
blooming against the window.
Its single siren-cry: Help me.
A silk-red shadow unbolting like water
through the orchard of her thigh.

--From "Manhattan Is a Lenape Word," a poem by Natalie Diaz, from her collection Postcolonial Love Poem (Graywolf Press, 2020).


First having read the book of myths,
and loaded the camera,
and checked the edge of the knife-blade,
I put on
the body-armor of black rubber
the absurd flippers
the grave and awkward mask.

--From "Diving into the Wreck," a poem by Adrienne Rich, from her book Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971-1972 (W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1973).

Three pieces I heard at AWP Seattle, plus a pre-conference memoir and a post-conference story collection

~
"Rollerskating, Barking," a short story by Meg Pokrass, storySouth, Issue 34 (Fall 2012). 

 

"Heat," a short story by Grant Faulkner, Word Riot (November 2010).  

 

"Poem for the Breasts," a poem by Sharon Olds, from her collection Stag's Leap (Alfred A. Knopf, 2013, pp. 21-22), and originally published in Ploughshares (Spring 1999).  I mentioned the book in an earlier post, but I didn't fully appreciate this particular poem until I heard her read it out loud. 

 

Joseph Anton, a memoir by Salman Rushdie (Random House, 2012).     

 

The Progress of Love, a collection of short stories by Alice Munro (Alfred A. Knopf, 1986).  My favorite was probably "Monsieur les Deux Chapeaux" (pp. 56-83), which was originally published in Grand Street (Vol. 4, No. 3, Spring 1985, pp. 7-33).

A poem by Sierra DeMulder, a short story by Maile Meloy, & a handful of other pieces

~
"The Perm," a poem by Sierra DeMulder, Used Furniture Review (January 9, 2012).

"My Particular Tumor," a short story by Josh Denslow, Wigleaf (January 22, 2012).

"Agustín," a short story by Maile Meloy, Ploughshares (Spring 2008), reprinted in her collection Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It (Riverhead Books, 2009, pp. 169-189).

Truth & Beauty: A Friendship, a memoir by Ann Patchett (HarperCollins, 2004) about her relationship with Lucy Grealy, the author of the memoir Autobiography of a Face (HarperCollins, 2003).

"Wolverine Way," a short story by Ryan Ragan, 971 MENU (December 2011).

"To the Long-Distance Caller Who Keeps Hanging Up," a poem by Jeff Worley, Three Rivers Poetry Journal, reprinted in his collection The Only Time There Is (Mid-List Press, 1995, p. 70).

"So Much Happiness," a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye, from Words Under the Words (The Eighth Mountain Press).