memorial for a brilliant woman

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

You know what I bought today??

RED shiny shoes, little faux loafers from Steve Madden (thank you DSW for having good prices and sending me a $5 birthday certificate)

in The Melic review

(I Wanted To) dance on your grave

wearing red shiny shoes
spit on your headstone
hair unbound
Great God Almighty
free at your last breath
the letters I never sent
calls I almost made
presents I nearly purchased
lost their gilt-edged sharpness
when you died on Good Friday
2000 miles away I had finished
tenebrae and crucifixion
three hours in a trance
hands shaking on the keyboard
Saturday night vigil
yet to Sunday services
one after the other
alleluias unsung for forty days
and more than forty years
peeling like bells from my tongue
but not for Christ, not for you
too busy to remember
(I wanted to)dance on your grave
but they burned you to ashes
stacked your box with the others
father upon father
no stones, no graves
no dancing daughters

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Virginia poet makes the paper!

If you haven;t heard about the guide to the Poet Laureate CD- go here

Carolyn Foronda

Friday, January 12, 2007

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

"Obviously you have mistaken me for a much taller woman"

  • Wed 6-8 Carytown Sit-Down at Carytown Books, now convieniently located in the Bellevue are on MacArthur St (no park, no cake, no rain) Bring work to share or come to listen and discuss.

  • Thursday 6-9 Art After Hours at the Virginia Museum - poet Susan Settlymyre Williams 6:30 & 7:00 tickets required ($10 at the door or get the series through Feb 22)

Come on out!!

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Expedient exaggerations

birthday poem 2007

Ila Faye really did have seven husbands,
all her own, or maybe it was six or five.
Two of them in the hospital at once,
names always the same, so it must be
true. I was never a really cheerleader-
only consistently louder than everybody
except when I bombed scales on the tuba
for the seventh graders, I don’t know
if any of them signed up for band
unless they thought- I can do better,
while I whispered to the floor (me, too)
shamed in front of the cute new director.

Why I let a certain kind of person (man)
intimidate me remains a roadblock
to this day. Charlie’s influence drives
every relationship right off the berm
stalled mid-sentence, lost in the stars.
Some daddies need to be stood up to.
I still build walls when things change,
grateful for the few who skitter over,
wait for me to calm down, quit fretting,
get past myself. That’s my mantra,
or should be, instead of "Sher-ring"
the one picked "especially for me."

It figures that age brings contentment,
some relaxation, a certainty of what works,
what won’t, in the face of sagging skin,
bad vision, lousy memory and more,
as the weight of futility becomes beacon,
the unbearable chances for wonderful
catch the last train (for the coast).
I rock on, wedded to dated metaphors
sure it’s been going downhill a long time
before I looked around to find opportunity
came and went while I was drifting
and not even dawn can bring it all back.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

It's official!

"Expedient Exaggeration"

Shann Palmer's One-woman Show # 2
More mostly true tales, poetry, and musical interludes
Friday, February 23rd 8pm, free
art6 Gallery
6 East Broad
Richmond, Virginia