Thursday, April 5, 2012

NatPoMo and a Giveaway



April is National Poetry Month. I didn't even realize it until my friend Deb Stein (BonBonOiseaux) who makes poetic jewellery told me it was.
(It is also National Frog Month --really!)


My daughter hates poetry; Percy Bysshe Shelley thought that poets should be the supreme legislators. There must be a happy medium somewhere.


To celebrate the month I offer two poems that I like a lot. The first is by Eileen Morrone. 

White Narcissus and the Cat


One bleak February day,
unable to fly off to Florida or Rio,
I went into town.
Newspapers and dried leave littered the streets.
Shops looked the same as last week
while bundled up pedestrians hurried
to escape the cold.
Wasting time, walking about, not
tackling bills or writing thank-you's
I stopped at a flower shop, its window
filled with baskets of paper white narcissus:
tall green stems with tiny star blossoms,
their whiteness dazzling.
And, behind, sat a black and white cat,
staring out at the street.
I wanted to share the sight
and stopped a woman passing by.
She nodded and kept on walking.
I've returned twice with my camera.
The white flowers remain,
but the cat lounges inside,
its back to the window



The second by Gracie Conway

Bobby Kennedy
at St. Patrick’s Cathedral
June 1968


The summer I turn fifteen
Mom and I leave dad at home
get on the greyhound bus
and go to New York city

We stay near the library
passing the open-mouthed lions
every day on our way to
someplace else

The Puerto Rican boys
make slippery sounds
with their mouths

This thrills me in a dark way
my mother says
don’t look at them

I am obsessed with the
procession of mourners
stretching around whole
city blocks

He was so cute.
I hear over and over
wherever we go
that week

At night, I don’t sleep
I listen to the water bugs, made brave by the darkness,
march determinedly up out of the drain
into the kitchen sink

The next morning I tell my mom
I want to go look at Bobby’s body
it’s important
I need to see him

She says no

When we leave the building
later that day
I tie up my shirt and look straight at
the Puerto Ricans.

That night,
vacation over
We go back to Ohio.



Photos from yesterday morning on 23rd Street.


Diner window.


More 23rd Street.


And last of all my new little poem book available here with a preview hereI'll send a proof copy to one of the people who comments. I'll pick the commenter on Saturday.

14 comments:

  1. Yes, we're all supposed to write a poem a day this month aren't we?

    I like the poem with the cat, it sums up perfectly the elusiveness of cats and also in a general sense the elusiveness of the moment.

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  2. I am a reader of poetry, but I write really bad poems. The visit to New York struck a chord with me since I'm from Ohio. I would have loved to visit NYC at 15 and finally did at 18. I believe 15 is about the time the mind turns to darker places, indeed. I enjoyed both the poems and the ever-changing diner window.

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  3. I like the two poems that you sampled, particularly the one about NYC - thanks so much for sharing!

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  4. I like the first poem with the cat and I don't need to say just how good your photos are as always.

    Congrats. on another book.

    Hope your Easter is enjoyable.

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  5. Love second and third photos very much.

    It is very cold here this week and my cat stayed on my bed until 4pm! He's not silly is he?

    I'd like to write poems...one day.

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  6. Nice photos as usual.
    I don't enter for the giveaway book, I let win others too :)

    I still read Jane in winter, and I like it!

    Have a good Easter!

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  7. weird how words come
    or don't
    someone has right ones
    wise somber necessary
    someone else
    silly ridiculous empty
    all serve a point
    someone's


    my first ever attempt on poetry...
    happy easter!

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  8. It is also Parkinson's Awareness Month. As a recently diagnosed person, I'm learning to write Haikus to express my feelings about this disease. Love your work!

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  9. Thank you for sharing these two poems - individual, exciting poems that lead into the scene and the thoughts of the poet. I love poetry ... my favourite writing medium ... and I am so glad to see that you have a book of poems 'ready to go'! If they are as good as your other work, then a treat is in store for the lucky recipient.
    Keep on creating Elizabeth!
    P.S. That first photograph - WOW!

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  10. I hope your daughter at least feigns some slight interest in poetry now that her Mother is a published poet! Congrats!

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  11. Oh, exciting! I didn't know you were getting a poetry book published. Well done!

    The "More 23rd Street" photo has the look of a midwest small town main street, not 23rd in New York.

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  12. Thanks for sharing these poems. I look forward to reading yours.

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  13. Lovely, lovely post. Loved the first poem, too.

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  14. Thanks for sharing this beautiful poems, Elizabeth.
    Your poem book "New Roof in October" sounds beautiful!
    Love also the book cover.
    Congratulations!
    Thanks for the link to preview.

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I look forward to hearing from you!