Stories and poems

An early story of mine, "Music of the Stairs," can be read on the website of Frontera--a new bilingual magazine:

https://www.fronteralit.com/

"Research," a piece of flash fiction, was published in the Australian web journal Scum:

http://www.scum-mag.com/category/fiction/

And you can find two short poems, "[Recovery]"  and "We of Few," in these journals:


https://maudlinhouse.net/recovery/

https://www.lockjawmagazine.com/vol6/paulsen/

 

Two Stories and a Poem

 Earlier this year, two short stories of mine were published by print journals--"Bandits" in the Humber Literary Review and "Alterations" in Saint Ann's Review.  The stories aren't currently available on line, but the issues as a whole are well worth reading.

And my poem "Prairie" appeared in the latest issue, entitled Hello & Goodbye, of Spillway.

Political Poemette

In the latest group of poems posted in "Such an Ugly Time" on the Rat's Ass Review site, you'll find a tiny poem of mine--probably the smallest there.  Poets are listed in alphabetical order.

http://ratsassreview.net

Political Lit

Last summer, Isthmus, a literary magazine based in Seattle, put out a call for submissions for a special issue on Politics.  I answered with a few poems, envisioning, as did the editors, that the issue would debut early in the administration of our first woman president.

The poem of mine they accepted, "Door to Door," is perhaps a little more poignant than it otherwise would have been.  The issue is about much more than electoral politics, though, and what I've read of it so far has been powerful, moving, and thought provoking.  I'm thrilled to be part of it.

For information, see Isthmusreview.com , where you can read much of the issue (though not my poem) online for free, or order it (well worth the $8 price, imho).

A Poem and a Story

Another poem of mine, "Show Time,"  debuted today on Bookends Review.

And my story "The Secret Carer" has just been published in the UK journal Riptide's latest collection, Volume 11: Carpe Diem. 

A Poem

Today, July 4th, one of my earlier poems, "Shelter," was published in an online journal:

http://thebookendsreview.com/

Their format is to post a new poem each day (typically at an appropriate time) but if you don't actually get to it the day it's posted, you can find it later by the contributor's name.

Three Poems

You can find three of my poems--"Giving Up," "Flypaper," and "The Secret of her Pickles" in the latest issue of Badlands Literary Review--a literary magazine published by California State University San Bernardino Palm Desert's writing program.

Go to

https://badlandslit.wordpress.com/pdf-library/

and click on Issue 6, for a downloadable pdf

Waiting for the storm

Back in the days when the only warnings of serious weather came shortly before the event from sky, air, or movements of animals, John Greenleaf Whittier wrote what may have been his masterwork, Snowbound: A Winter Idyll.

After a dedication-- 

To the Memory of the Household It Describes
This Poem is Dedicated by the Author

 --and quotations from Agrippa's Occult Philosophy and Emerson's poem "Snow Storm", the poem itself begins:

The sun that brief December day

Rose cheerless over hills of gray,

And, darkly circled, gave at noon

A sadder light than waning moon.

Slow tracing down the thickening sky

Its mute and ominous prophecy,

A portent seeming less than threat,

It sank from sight before it set.

Snowbound was published in 1866, soon after the Civil War and, with its vivid descriptions of a powerful storm and the contrasting warmth and intimacy of storytelling around the fireplace, proved hugely popular.

It was one of my favorite poems as a child, and these days its themes of memory, loss, and changing times mean much more to me than when I first read and loved it.  But it's been years since I read its many verses all the way through.

Tomorrow--as a storm blankets the East Coast with the kind of snow that may one day be only a distant memory--will be a good time to immerse myself in Snowbound once more. 

Yoko at MOMA - last chance!

Yoko Ono: One Woman Show, 1960-1971, at the Museum of Modern Art is the sort of show I tend to miss--running a long time, not a labor of love first on my list, feels like a cultural duty.

Fortunately, an afternoon visit from my niece JoJo earlier this month got me there.   The show was a revelation--one of the highlights of my summer--and I've been thinking about it ever since: 

The riveting film made from Ono's performance Cut Piece.  Was the thing that happens at the end of the film really spontaneous--or staged?  Either way, the piece is brilliant, and if the bit at the end was staged, Ono is a brilliant actress as well. 

Her White Chess Set:  leaders all over the world should be playing with it.

Her book Grapefruit--a compendium of drawings and instructions for every day of the year.  Copies of its pages are posted on the walls of one of the rooms in the exhibit  Walking slowly, reading them, JoJo and I wanted to be able to bring them home, and were happy to find that we could buy the book in the gift shop. 

It's a great source of inspiration--for making art, for writing, and for living.

Yoko Ono was a woman ahead of her time--a woman of genius, which, luckily for both of them, John Lennon realized.  

MOMA, however, was behind the times and slow to appreciate Ono.  Hence, her self-created debut at the museum, which she called Museum of Modern [F]art, in 1971, and which seems to have consisted mainly of the claim that she had released flies on the museum grounds. .  Belatedly, MOMA is now acknowledging the innovative and influential body of work that led up Ono's 1971 appearance there--let's hope that her next show at the museum doesn't take nearly as long. 

The show is closing next Monday, September 7.  If you haven't been yet, go.   If it travels to your town, get yourself there.  If I'm there, I'll go again. 

In the meantime, get yourself a copy of Grapefruit.  

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1544

"Diamondback Tales" - a poem

You can read "Diamondback Tales"*  in the latest issue of Star 82 Review online (also in their print journal).

It's listed in the Table of Contents as a Hidden Gem:

http://star82review.com/2.4/contents.html


*Warning: not recommended for those suffering from snake phobia.