tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-290599832024-02-19T11:38:00.985-05:00Poet TreePoetry and other writing exploring feminism, motherhood, self, the Goddess, love, life, nature, the outdoors, all things beautiful and divine, all things sacred, destructive, and chaotic.Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.comBlogger92125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-59961256458090165212020-04-30T12:54:00.004-04:002020-04-30T12:54:59.254-04:00Safe as Lightning Book Review<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53301249-safe-as-lightning" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Safe as Lightning: Poems" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1588260688l/53301249._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53301249-safe-as-lightning">Safe as Lightning: Poems</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20251839.Scudder_H_Parker">Scudder H. Parker</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3310303085">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
Such a wonderful collection of poems that are hopeful, sad, pensive, gracious, and grateful--a world of emotions expressed in this world of nature and poetry! There are such lovely lines and turns of phrases throughout, too, such as "a bowl of wildness" (p. 95); "remember you are here by gift" (121); and:<br />
<br />
"We found and ate wild onions, green flags,<br />
red bulbs flecked with loam,<br />
so spring would infect our breath" (p. 41).<br />
<br />
The poems are accessible, and many feel like little stories of a life and place in rural Vermont. A complete book that will transport and transform you. Full disclosure: I am the editor of this book, however, I would not inflate my review as such. I truly enjoy the work here, and think you will too.
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/8101201-samantha">View all my reviews</a>
Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-38113984629797262192020-04-08T15:36:00.000-04:002020-04-08T16:11:23.030-04:00I Take a Walk with My Daughter to the Library<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 1in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
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<span style="color: #353535; font-family: "applesystemuifont";">and it’s quiet but for screams of circling seagulls overhead. Still, it’s quieter than usual. We see no people. Only the chipper birds, all the birds, circling and swooping the sky that’s now theirs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #353535; font-family: "applesystemuifont";">I walk in this desolate town that used to bustle at Noon. We get to the library that used to be open. My daughter asks if she can play in the library today. When I tell her no she says, <i>because of the virus</i>?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #353535; font-family: "applesystemuifont";">A person walks by with a dog and I put my mask up over my mouth and nose. I walk away from them. My daughter thank god is already running around the library lawn and doesn’t notice the person and the white, fluffy dog. I don’t have to remind her to stay away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #353535; font-family: "applesystemuifont";">Downtown Main Street: all the parking spaces are empty; all the storefronts closed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #353535; font-family: "applesystemuifont";">My daughter picks up a stick and draws a picture of an oval in the dirt. I ask her, <i>is it a heart</i>? and she says, <i>no it’s a bird with no wings</i>, and I’m amazed she knows exactly how I feel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #353535; font-family: "applesystemuifont";">Then she draws a <i>shape duck table</i>, she yells it at me three times. She is three years old.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #353535; font-family: "applesystemuifont";">Then she chants <i>I want to go home</i>, places three shriveled winter berries in my hand, wraps her soft hand around my thumb and leads me down the sidewalk while I trail the empty red Radio Flyer wagon behind.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My daughter playing on the library building.</td></tr>
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Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-18535610120189680822020-01-22T22:07:00.001-05:002020-01-22T22:07:11.932-05:00Jewel Tones<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Lato, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.95px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.85em; margin-top: 0.85em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
For twenty-five dollars<br />
my mother can dress your feet<br />
in jewel tones. You send her a check,<br />
she’ll send you jewel tones.</div>
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My mother can dress your feet,<br />
she does it by hand, with fingers curled as a reflex.<br />
She’ll send you jewel tones.<br />
Around needles, without thought</div>
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she does it by hand, with fingers curled as a reflex.<br />
Intricate toes and heels form tubular<br />
around needles, without thought<br />
my mother knits.</div>
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Intricate toes and heels form tubular.<br />
One hand over the other,<br />
my mother knits.<br />
She doesn’t need to think anymore.</div>
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One hand over the other,<br />
knit one, purl two,<br />
she doesn’t need to think anymore,<br />
lost in knitter’s repetition.</div>
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Knit one, purl two,<br />
while the television blares she<br />
is lost in knitter’s repetition,<br />
her private concerto.</div>
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While the television blares she<br />
hears jewel tones,<br />
her private concerto.<br />
Her lips move in the counting.</div>
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She hears jewel tones,<br />
with large glasses sliding down her nose,<br />
her lips move in the counting<br />
as a sign of her concentration.</div>
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With large glasses sliding down her nose,<br />
inaudibly whispering to herself<br />
as a sign of her concentration,<br />
she holds back her world.</div>
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Inaudibly whispering to herself<br />
for if she let her excitement out<br />
(she holds back her world)<br />
she might disturb our TV show.</div>
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If she let her excitement out<br />
in unraveling emotions in the family room<br />
she might disturb our TV show,<br />
or we might disturb her.</div>
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In unraveling emotions in the family room<br />
sometimes instead of the sitcom, I watch her<br />
but not to disturb her,<br />
her inner world that none of us enter.</div>
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Sometimes instead of the sitcom, I watch her<br />
knitting, her way to escape<br />
into her inner world that none of us enter<br />
where beautiful things are born.</div>
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Knitting, her way to escape,<br />
making socks instead of time<br />
where beautiful things are born<br />
in a now empty nest.</div>
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Making socks instead of time,<br />
the lines of worlds fade, and all that’s left<br />
in a now empty nest<br />
are the lines of corrugated yarn in a spiral design.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Lato, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.95px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.85em; margin-top: 0.85em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
The lines of worlds fade, and all that’s left<br />
is wrapped around needles, lips, and hearts.<br />
The lines of corrugated yarn in a spiral design<br />
coming together in knots,</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Lato, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.95px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.85em; margin-top: 0.85em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
wrapped around needles, lips, and hearts.<br />
A pair of hand-knit socks<br />
coming together in knots.<br />
And she’ll send them to you,</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Lato, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.95px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.85em; margin-top: 0.85em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
a pair of hand-knit socks<br />
in jewel tones. You send her a check<br />
and she’ll send them to you<br />
for twenty-five dollars.</div>
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<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Lato, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.95px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.85em; margin-top: 0.85em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
One of the many difficulties of writing in strict form is the pitfall of allowing the form of the poem to take over the content or the intention of the poet. In “Jewel Tones” we see the opposite: A poet utilizing the form to carry the very human desire of the person writing it.<br />
<span style="border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); box-sizing: border-box; font: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px 80px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">—Matthew Dickman, 2010 Ruth Stone Poetry Prize Judge</span><br />
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*This poem was Runner-Up in the Ruth Stone Poetry Prize and was published at <i><a href="https://hungermtn.org/jewel-tones/" target="_blank">Hunger Mountain</a></i>.*Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-52639436617531502702018-12-29T19:13:00.000-05:002018-12-29T21:27:00.513-05:00Because These Foreheads Speak<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="color: #353535; font-family: applesystemuifont; font-size: 12pt;">we don’t have to say words out loud;</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #353535; font-family: "applesystemuifont"; mso-bidi-font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;">We simply tip, skin to skin. Nod into each other <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #353535; font-family: "applesystemuifont"; mso-bidi-font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;">the way our daughter asks us to after a kiss, a hug <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #353535; font-family: "applesystemuifont"; mso-bidi-font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;">and a snuzzle, and before a high five, a fist bump, and a pat on
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #353535; font-family: "applesystemuifont"; mso-bidi-font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;">These rituals you and I perform <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #353535; font-family: "applesystemuifont"; mso-bidi-font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;">are ones we never thought we’d do. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #353535; font-family: "applesystemuifont"; mso-bidi-font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;">We never had to think of them in these great foreheads
of ours. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #353535; font-family: "applesystemuifont"; mso-bidi-font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;">We never had to invent the future <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #353535; font-family: "applesystemuifont"; mso-bidi-font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;">because it was already here. Waiting. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #353535; font-family: "applesystemuifont"; mso-bidi-font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;">We just had to bend our way into it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #353535; font-family: "applesystemuifont"; mso-bidi-font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;">The way we bend toward each other in sleep. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #353535; font-family: "applesystemuifont"; mso-bidi-font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;">The way our foreheads touch when we want to
speak.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-66591249452387922682017-11-11T22:43:00.002-05:002017-11-11T22:53:56.876-05:00Two Breastfeeding Poems<div class="p1">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4SnAptkYEWJtzjMWwTt8VHdhYDF1HwDeFApSPt9Ga1YjSCcicKgiHAtgFGMU9behwNmB7Q7_oTk6BNVEfLMSCLLvlCk1Un99Wz52vOsE6mV2SSP-RZii_qBrS95MWJP3lyCfYMg/s1600/fullsizeoutput_69.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4SnAptkYEWJtzjMWwTt8VHdhYDF1HwDeFApSPt9Ga1YjSCcicKgiHAtgFGMU9behwNmB7Q7_oTk6BNVEfLMSCLLvlCk1Un99Wz52vOsE6mV2SSP-RZii_qBrS95MWJP3lyCfYMg/s320/fullsizeoutput_69.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="s1"><b><br /></b></span>
<span class="s1"><b>Breastfeeding Poem: One</b></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">There is a world at my fingertips, Or I am the world with fingertips, Or she is the world, she grips me with the tips of her fingers.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">She is my world, Or I am hers, I touch her with my fingertips, She suckles the round world planet that is my breast, Her fingers curl around her own palm and form a fist.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">She is a world grabber, world eater, And I am the world, Yet so is she.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">So maybe I am the sun, giving life to her, the planet, the world. No, I am the world, And she is my moon and stars, She orbits around the globe of me.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: right;">
<span class="s1">©Samantha Kolber</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpZKV6KWf3egFG71KMLXl6amz76Nu3J_4oFH0HCbbZDlK0Ko61nQKfalZS6VlVr345tdC1fdyZiPZJo5uzaKdKuMBtQMnzzirkTV84Vut2bfRNH7F9WV5josqFG4VUUOwrKzXeCA/s1600/fullsizeoutput_67.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpZKV6KWf3egFG71KMLXl6amz76Nu3J_4oFH0HCbbZDlK0Ko61nQKfalZS6VlVr345tdC1fdyZiPZJo5uzaKdKuMBtQMnzzirkTV84Vut2bfRNH7F9WV5josqFG4VUUOwrKzXeCA/s320/fullsizeoutput_67.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b>Breastfeeding Poem: Two</b></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Your shoulder is a star</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Shooting its way into</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">the gravitational pull of me.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Your mouth, a black hole</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">sucking what light I make</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Into the core of you.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Oh these worlds we are now</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">you and I</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">tied together</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">like a planet and moon.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<br />
<div class="p1" style="text-align: right;">
<span class="s1">©Samantha Kolber</span></div>
Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-9132505672908545362015-07-22T01:27:00.002-04:002015-07-22T01:51:30.460-04:00The Art of Motherhood<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
“Life
affirms life. Plant your gardens. Make your art.” –Rose Chessman (1964-2004)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
I don’t know where
this phrase originated, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/12/the-art-of-motherhood_n_1506336.html" target="_blank">the art of motherhood</a></i>,”
but we see it in magazine ads, in books, in stores or doctor’s office posters,
as if a fancy, loaded, upscale word, “art,” attached to motherhood will pacify
us. Like we won’t see the reality of the mundane: the diapers, the tantrums,
the lonely, frustrating world of motherhood because, they tell us, it’s an art.
Our art. Yeah right. Here is why I do not believe motherhood is an art
(although I wish I did because I’d like to be an artist, and also <a href="https://motherhoodfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/omahne-womb-project.jpg" target="_blank">this artist mom</a> is pretty rad at showing her <a href="http://mommuseum.org/art-2/" target="_blank">art of motherhood</a>).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
I read a book
called <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Art-Fear-Observations-Rewards-Artmaking/dp/0961454733" target="_blank">Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking</a>,</i> by Davie Bayles and Ted Orland. According to these art
critics, to call something art, it must include self-expression. Does this
sound like motherhood to you? Is motherhood a form of self-expression? More
like a form of self<i>less</i>-expression! I’ve never once—not while changing a
horrendous blow-out diaper, or rushing to have dinner ready before my toddler
explodes in a hunger tantrum, or nursing all night, every night—stopped and
thought, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gee, I’m really expressing
myself here</i>. Granted, I have used motherhood a great deal as a theme in my
art and poetry, but I would not go as far as to say that the <i>act</i> of
motherhood in itself is an art. Mothers still need our own creative outlets.
Yes, giving birth is a major act of creativity, and motherhood can propel us
into creative endeavors, but if we want to make art, we should paint, write
poems, sculpt, blow hot glass—any medium will do. Motherhood is not an artist’s medium.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
If we must use a
creative metaphor for motherhood, why not call it a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craft" target="_blank">craft</a>? According to Bayles
and Orland, craft is doing a technique with an attainable goal of perfection;
doing it over and over, repeatedly, in hopes of producing the perfect piece.
Now, I know and you know there is no such thing as the perfect mother. But our
culture still <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/selling-the-myth-of-the-ideal-mother" target="_blank">promotes this myth</a>. If only we would just get it right, no one
would end up on drugs, or commit crimes or suicide. We have <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=parenting+books&oq=parenting+books&aqs=chrome..69i57.2094j0j4&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=119&ie=UTF-8#q=parenting+books&tbm=bks" target="_blank">hordes of books</a> and
<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=parenting+books&oq=parenting+books&aqs=chrome..69i57.2094j0j4&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=119&ie=UTF-8#q=parenting+experts" target="_blank">experts </a>telling us how to do it right. Even the experts on <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Kdy-AAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=attachment+parenting&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAWoVChMI07inzfztxgIVgls-Ch0fFAmZ#v=onepage&q=attachment%20parenting&f=false" target="_blank">attachment parenting</a>, the follow-your-instinct crowd, tell us if we do it that way we, and
our kids, will be perfect. No matter what parenting theory you subscribe to,
it’s all the same message: do things right, and everything, and everyone, will
be right. And even though we know this to be false, we still work toward it. I
want my child to grow up to be secure, well-adjusted, happy, healthy, loving,
empathetic, socially conscious, and smart. In short, almost perfect. Who
doesn’t want this for her child? So I breastfeed, I <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=baby-wear&es_sm=119&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAmoVChMI5Liu5_ztxgIVwW0-Ch3eIQHY&biw=1216&bih=613#tbm=isch&q=baby-wearing" target="_blank">baby-wear</a>, I feed him
nutritious, organic food, I use <a href="http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/" target="_blank">cloth diapers</a>, and so on in search of
perfection, even though I know it is a myth. Over and over, day in and day out,
I do the work of mothering, secretly wishing for perfection.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here’s my
conclusion: On days I want art, I make a collage, write and read poetry; on
days I crave perfection, I make, and devour, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Quick-Vegetarian-Pleasures-Delicious-Meatless/dp/0060969113" target="_blank">The Best Chocolate Cake</a></i>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Cake<o:p></o:p></div>
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2 ½ cups unbleached white flour<o:p></o:p></div>
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1 ½ cups sugar (I use a little
less)<o:p></o:p></div>
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½ cup cocoa<o:p></o:p></div>
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1 ½ teaspoons baking soda<o:p></o:p></div>
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¾ teaspoon salt<o:p></o:p></div>
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1 ½ cups warm water<o:p></o:p></div>
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½ cup vegetable oil<o:p></o:p></div>
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1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract<o:p></o:p></div>
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1 ½ teaspoons white vinegar<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Icing<o:p></o:p></div>
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1 cup semisweet chocolate chips<o:p></o:p></div>
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8 Tblsp. (1 stick) unsalted
butter, softened<o:p></o:p></div>
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1 large egg<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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1. Preheat oven
to 350ºF. Butter and flour two, 8-inch layer pans and set aside. Thoroughly
combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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2. Pour in the
water, oil, vanilla, and vinegar and stir until combined. Pour into the prepared
pans. Bake 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool on a rack 10 minutes, then remove cakes from pans and cool completely. (For
a quick, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veganism" target="_blank">vegan</a> treat, I usually stop right here and omit the frosting. It’s
done in no time, and tastes amazing when warm!)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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3. Buttercream
frosting: melt the chocolate in a double boiler, then remove the top pan. Let
the chocolate cool until tepid. In a medium bowl, cream the butter, using an
electric mixer. Add the egg and beat until blended, but not smooth. Pour in the
chocolate and beat until just combined.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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4. When the cake
is completely cool, spread some icing on one layer. Top with the other layer,
then spread the remaining icing all over the cake. Chill the cake at least 30
minutes, then bring to room temperature before serving. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Babies are not
paintings—works of art mothers create from air, imagination, canvas and
brushes. Babies are not cakes that we mix and measure in perfect union of key
ingredients. Babies are people, and people are far from perfect. Life is not
perfect. That chocolate cake? Go ahead. See for yourself. I have to go
self-express some toys off the floor.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.thecreativerecycler.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/messy-floor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.thecreativerecycler.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/messy-floor.jpg" height="205" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-71262695689250719902015-02-05T16:13:00.001-05:002015-02-05T16:13:26.866-05:00Poem Inspired by an N.C. Wyeth Painting, 2/5/15<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg76Vz5Q8dilmytDiaNolFBcq5FzP1sdnigvCWGeOXaE1DVe-sd38oUxcSSfJj0oJvJwW6HlusEygdF2iuW0vABYOZKyZdsrfhpNoaALCYX3xzvEK-8aQK1lspp3F0I87NSqkT7bg/s1600/10959617_10205801236219559_3021397484701468058_n.jpg" height="336" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">N.C. Wyeth, "Herring Gut, 1932" oil on canvas.</span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> </span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> </span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> </span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> </span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> </span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> </span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> </span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> </span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> </span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> </span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> </span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> </span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> </span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> </span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> </span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> </span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> </span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> </span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> </span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> </span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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In this world</div>
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is loneliness</div>
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and love. The two</div>
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exist together.</div>
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<br /></div>
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What we fill</div>
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our lifeboats with</div>
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is up to us. </div>
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<br />Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-52960642754096786132015-01-02T10:57:00.000-05:002015-01-02T10:57:32.403-05:00PoemCity 2015 Call for Submissions<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="background-repeat: initial initial;"></span></i><span style="background-repeat: initial initial;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>We Want Your Poems for PoemCity 2015!</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%;">Do you live in Vermont and like to write poems? You're invited to submit your original poems for publication in <i>PoemCity</i> 2015, a
city-wide event in Montpelier, Vermont, now in its sixth year.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"><i>PoemCity</i> publishes and displays Vermont poetry on local business storefronts
as a way to celebrate National Poetry Month. Chosen poems will appear
throughout the downtown district of Montpelier for the month of April 2015. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%;">“Poetry has an important place in the
lives of Vermonters,” said Kellogg-Hubbard Library Program and Development
Coordinator Rachel Senechal. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%;">“<i>PoemCity</i>
collaborates with many organizations, schools, and individuals, to read, hear,
write, and discuss poetry, the language of the soul. With the many poems displayed in
our downtown windows, it is our goal to make poetry accessible to our community,
and to inspire new readers and writers of poetry,” she said.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%;">Along with displayed poems, <i>PoemCity</i> will also offer poetry
workshops, public readings, panel discussions, and visual poetry and art
displays throughout downtown. The month-long schedule of events and programming
is free and open to the public. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%;">Poets of all ages are welcome to submit
up to three poems no longer than 24 lines each for consideration of public
display. Each poem should be original work by the author, who must be a Vermont
resident or student. Deadline to submit is January 31, 2015</span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%;">.</span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%;">For submission guidelines and to submit, go to <a href="https://kellogghubbardlibrary.submittable.com/submit" target="_blank">https://kellogghubbardlibrary.submittable.com/submit </a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"> ####</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><u>ABOUT KELLOGG-HUBBARD LIBRARY</u></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The Kellogg-Hubbard
Library is a public library that is the focal point for cultural,
educational, and intellectual life in Central Vermont. It serves as a
resource to encourage lifelong learning, acts as a
catalyst for the free exchange of ideas, and promotes literacy for
community
members of all ages. Learn more at <a href="http://www.kellogghubbard.org/" target="_blank">http://www.kellogghubbard.<wbr></wbr>org</a>. </span></span><br />
<br />Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-89310369851544978042014-04-12T14:17:00.002-04:002014-04-12T22:07:45.911-04:00Spring VillanelleThanks to the <a href="http://www.kellogghubbard.org/" target="_blank">Kellogg-Hubbard Library</a> and <a href="http://www.montpelieralive.org/" target="_blank">Montpelier Alive</a> for hosting my Modern Villanelle Writing Workshop today as part of PoemCity 2014. We had four participants: poet and poetry therapist <a href="http://www.maryrosedougherty.com/" target="_blank">Mary Rose Dougherty</a>, Indiana transplant & writer <a href="http://www.jdfoxpresents.com/" target="_blank">John Fox</a>, film instructor and Sestina master <a href="https://www.burlington.edu/content/rick-winston-film-studies" target="_blank">Rick Winston</a>, and Veteran and Vermonter George Druin.<br />
<br />
We had a lively discussion of the form, its history, and its contents, while also reading a few great poems by Sherman Alexie, Dylan Thomas, and Ursula K. Le Guin, to name a few.<br />
<br />
Books about Villanells I recommended and used as a reference are <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Villanelles-Everymans-Library-Pocket-Poets/dp/0307957861/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397326230&sr=1-1&keywords=Villanelles" target="_blank">Villanelles</a> </i>edited by Annie Finch and Marie-Elizabeth Mali (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012); and <i>T<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Teachers-Writers-Handbook-Poetic-Forms/dp/0915924609" target="_blank">he Teachers & writers handbook of poetic forms</a>,</i> edited by Ron Padgett (Teachers & Writers Collaborative, 2000).<br />
<br />
Thanks to our poets who participated today, five new Villanelles have been birthed into the world (I wrote one, too).<br />
<br />
Here I'll share with you my own villanelle I wrote this morning, and also here is the form to give you a sense of how to write your own:<br />
<br />
A1<br />
b<br />
A2<br />
<br />
a<br />
b<br />
A1<br />
<br />
a<br />
b<br />
A2<br />
<br />
a<br />
b<br />
A1<br />
<br />
a<br />
b<br />
A2<br />
<br />
a<br />
b<br />
A1<br />
A2<br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<b>Spring Villanelle </b><br />
<b> </b>by Samantha Kolber<b><br /></b><br />
<br />
It's been too long since we've seen the sun.<br />
We stumble blind<br />
as if out of the dark cave we've come.<br />
<br />
Ready for laughing and fun,<br />
warmth on our skin.<br />
It's been too long since we've seen the sun.<br />
<br />
Ready for fingers in dirt, planting a garden.<br />
The ground not harsh, but kind<br />
as if out of the dark cave seeds come<br />
<br />
up, released from Hades. Not a son<br />
but a daughter reunites.<br />
It's been too long since she's seen the sun.<br />
<br />
And as for mothers and fathers you only get one.<br />
If your childhood's been unkind<br />
it's out of the darkness you've come.<br />
<br />
Winter breeds darkness, and spring the growing season.<br />
Mom, dad, I'm really trying<br />
to see the sun.<br />
Out of your dark cave is where I've come from.Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-29484101403293786642014-04-10T17:12:00.002-04:002014-04-10T17:22:13.617-04:00Modern Villanelle Writing Workshop with Samantha Kolber: a PoemCity EventIt's that time of year again: National Poetry Month! To celebrate, I have joined the <a href="http://poemcityvt.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">PoemCity 2014 </a>movement in Montpelier, Vermont.<br />
<br />
Not only do I have a poem displayed in the window of Julio's restaurant on State Street...<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXJCGkK3Taih3Qyt3kaewxHk3yDbp7Bp-XgoI5y5bckeZRt2U5Qj24C0FdRJYiRIa_5XY0bls9eo5qWJjdSeTe6ykSAq7k4IOQfeFI-MxAjr3Ij-175V3A9sS8XL9gZgTypPfVxg/s1600/Samantha+Kolber+Pyatak+with+her+poem+in+downtown+window++April+5+2014(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXJCGkK3Taih3Qyt3kaewxHk3yDbp7Bp-XgoI5y5bckeZRt2U5Qj24C0FdRJYiRIa_5XY0bls9eo5qWJjdSeTe6ykSAq7k4IOQfeFI-MxAjr3Ij-175V3A9sS8XL9gZgTypPfVxg/s1600/Samantha+Kolber+Pyatak+with+her+poem+in+downtown+window++April+5+2014(1).jpg" height="345" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
....but I am also teaching a free <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1404509713155141/" target="_blank">Modern Villanelle Writing Workshop</a> on Saturday, April 12. Here is the program description:<br />
<br />
<span class="fsl">Come learn about villanelles, and write your own! <br /> <br />
“The villanelle is one of the most fascinating and paradoxical of
poetic forms, quirky and edgy…prone to moods of obsession and delight;
structured through the marriage of repetition and surprise… No wonder it
is currently enjoying such a powerful, post-modernist blos<span class="text_exposed_show">soming,”
from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Villanelles-Everymans-Library-Pocket-Poets/dp/0307957861" target="_blank"><i>Villanelles: Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets</i></a>. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="fsl"><span class="text_exposed_show">We’ll read aloud
examples by poets such as Sherman Alexie and Sylvia Plath to get
inspired; then we’ll get busy creating our own villanelles. All levels
and ages of writers are welcome.<br /> <br /> Hayes Room, Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 135 Main Street | 10 AM</span></span> <br />
<br />
Hope to see you there!Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-7298878928716837362013-10-07T15:59:00.004-04:002013-10-07T16:12:13.587-04:00Walk Poem at Norwich University<i>for ENV 299, thank you </i><br />
<br />
I wish I had sunglasses<br />
on these short<br />
annoying stairs.<br />
<br />
I see Meg's dark eyes<br />
much worse, the sun shines<br />
and her smile still sparkles.<br />
<br />
Looking up is fruitless.<br />
<br />
The wind makes the leaves dance<br />
and I wish they wouldn't<br />
distract me so.<br />
<br />
Stark shadow on the ground<br />
is me getting out of my own way.<br />
<br />
The bark eye of the tree<br />
is underneath all things.<br />
<br />
I smell asphalt on the wind.<br />
I wish I didn't smell asphalt<br />
but I wish I could smell wind. <br />
<br />
Vibrant colors too clean and<br />
bright and <i>if we go down the stairs</i><br />
<i>I'll fall </i>or not write as much.<br />
<br />
<i>The poet's obstacle course</i><br />
can't make me jump the hoops<br />
of all time.<br />
<br />
Smelling green grass that grows fake<br />
seeing gold chairs that feel hollow<br />
why is it man-made life and<br />
nature can both be so beautiful?<br />
<br />
The newness mixed with the old<br />
means nothing ever really dies.<br />
It just changes shape.<br />
Like this path that changes<br />
from cement to dirt back to<br />
cement again. Which one is the<br />
true path? The way for poets?<br />
<br />
<i>I crashed my snowboard on this--</i><br />
more stairs<br />
steeply down<br />
if I could wander down stairs,<br />
across fields, in the sun toward a<br />
glowing mountain of autumn leaves<br />
forever, then I'd always know<br />
I am alive. This heat gives life. This<br />
bright green grass beneath my feet<br />
that sparkles here and there with<br />
leftover dew, tethers me to the ground.<br />
Without ground, I'd float off<br />
into an abstract sky.<br />
<br />
Why call this fall when all we do is<br />
stay? Stay here on the earth with<br />
its crunchy leaves underfoot. Stay here<br />
on an endless train track, forever<br />
in both directions.<br />
<br />
Moving into nature<br />
<i>say hello.</i> <i>Question.</i><br />
Why this dirt?<br />
Why that pile of hay?<br />
Why that dead birch right there off<br />
the path? Why do we veer off the path?<br />
<br />
Listen! There's a sewer and underneath<br />
a river flowing, I can hear it<br />
shushing and lulling like a waterfall.<br />
<br />
The crow caws, the sun makes me<br />
glint and it hurts my eyes.<br />
<br />
I run to catch up.<br />
A gun shot far off in the hills.<br />
I take a deep breath<br />
a thousand breaths to make<br />
this afternoon last forever.<br />
<br />
<i>Grab a hold of that light bulb</i><br />
one flash and it's over.Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-73138914688042398162013-08-17T01:06:00.000-04:002013-08-17T01:10:13.470-04:00I just found a poem I wrote in 2005 on an old hardrive, and I revised it into this new poem. What do you think?<style>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I want the weight of you,</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">not just your hand like a
delicate shadow</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">on my belly;</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Not just your open mouth on
mine,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">your scruff on my neck,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>no</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">this won’t do.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I don’t want pieces of you.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I want the cool finger of
vision,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">your hands down my spine.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Our bodies wading shallow,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">naked in a reflective pool. Two</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">puddles coming together,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">the meniscus of our crescent</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">figures like droplets </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">returning from the waterfall.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">On your lips I tell you this,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">taste our stolen kiss.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">You don’t hear me</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">through the rush.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">© 2013 Samantha Kolber </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0in;">
<br /></div>
Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-44105543455724219332013-03-26T23:39:00.002-04:002013-03-26T23:40:38.055-04:00A Poem for When I am Not Writing Poems<style>
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</style> <br />
In fiction, I must ask:
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
What’s my character’s problem?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And not: Why aren’t I outside looking at the moon, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
singing to her and pining for all things light and dark </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to touch me in ways I can only dream of being touched?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
In fiction I must write silence into my dialogue without
saying </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Insert awkward silence here.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Who knew?</div>
<br />
Who knew that a life of nothing much would <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
lead me here, to a keyboard in the middle of the night, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to a man dancing parallel lines to my groovy hips?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And now I’m driving toward a one and only future, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
one I can’t imagine but somehow have known, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
at least I’ve known to write it down, to document. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I document for those who dare not speak, but what do I have
to say for them? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have no problem, hence </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
my character has no problem, unless you count </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
a general problem with the way the world works </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
as a central problem to solve. Why have we come this far </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and not solved rape? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Why have we come this far to debate on </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
who can and cannot be married? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Why have we come this far? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s not very far at all, is it?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But we are far – far from the one, the one true point </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t even believe </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
we’ve really ever come from: that garden, that snake. Nope.
Don’t buy it. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Everything will change, but how </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
have we evolved so far from divinity? So far from light and
truth </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and justice and peace for all? Who will you pledge your
allegiance to </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
when the moon doth not shine? Who will you side with </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
when there is no light to see any sides? Because that light
is gone </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
as far as I can tell, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and I’m not even a poet. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anymore.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
** </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What it’s like to give up writing poems:
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve given up my camera, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am unable to take pictures of your thoughts,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
snap snap</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I just took your heart</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
snap</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
an eyeball’s core with that image of </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
your brother’s bleeding wrists you had wanted to forget</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
snap</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
not even bandages cover up what my camera can capture.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I miss it. The darkness like my own private dark room,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
the way my heart reached out to it </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
in <span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">negative
phototropism.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
way my whole being would turn to it </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">in
order to get the poem.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Poems
come from dark and silent places, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and
also light and fluffy ones.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But
mostly dark.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Poets
Know:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">it’s
not an attitude, it’s an attunement.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s
not always about line breaks and enjamb</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ments.
Nor is it always about witnessing. Rhyming,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">definitely
not even close to being about rhyming.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But
what? That question</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">says
it all.</span></div>
Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-83441157604111018702013-03-12T21:57:00.000-04:002013-03-12T21:57:44.345-04:00Fuck You, Depression<div class="MsoNormal">
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--></style><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>I.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have stood where the wind</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
touches no one.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have let her hollow cry</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
brush my ears.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And when she made me cry</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
from sheer bitterness</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I went on pretending,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
forced a plastered smile.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
II.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I dress in black</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and walk in snow,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
rise tall like a shadow</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
or a ghost.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
People say “Fuck</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
you, depression.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I say nothing at all</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and fall.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So tired and so awake</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I recall whistling</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to a dog in a sunny</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
park.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Was that my childhood</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
or just the one I wanted?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I lay with piles around</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
me—heaps and stacks I</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
never put away.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There’s just no room for it all.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m craving sunshine</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
big sky, curvy land,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
vast ocean.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But I have snow, a grey sky,
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
city lights bounce off the</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
snow-covered streets.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nothing much to anchor me</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
or help me feel.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
III. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At home? Happy? Fulfilled? Who</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
ever really feels like that? I’m </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
hungry now, I always have </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
been. And this sucks, the </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
way I write now is always </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
looking for the good line, always</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
editing it down, even before I</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
write it to get the poem. I</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
can’t write the poem: it has</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to write me. Oh I’ve forgotten</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
my tools. These are my tools.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Why am I filling my head with</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
fluff? Wasting my time with empty</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
entertainment? When I should be</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
carting my tools around</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
crafting stories and life from</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
the details I see.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have always loved words.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Words are delicious.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fucking depression. I will ninja</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
kick you back to hell.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fuck you, depression. I will take a</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Samurai sword and chop</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
your head off. Maybe even </div>
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">borrow my dad’s machete. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">©2013 Samantha Kolber </span>
Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-67035027052157660322013-03-06T01:37:00.000-05:002013-03-06T01:37:40.797-05:00Clothes Shopping: Love/Hate Relationship with my BodyI just want to talk for a minute about women's bodies and shopping. Now, I have what I have always considered a normal body. I am not overweight, nor am I too skinny. I have some cellulose (perfectly normal) in my thighs, my calves are thick from sports, and I still have a waist (at my age and after having a kid). And I love my body--it grew and birthed a child, it has ran marathons and hiked up mountains, it has danced and laughed and repaired itself from illnesses and injuries--but I hate clothes shopping. The thing is, while trying on clothes and seeing how nothing fits even though I pick my size off the shelf, I start to loathe my body. Love body while not clothes shopping; hate body while clothes shopping. Tough equation.<br />
<br />
In the dressing room while stuffing my all-of-a-sudden sausage legs into a size 10 pair of pants--damn "skinny" pants!--I start to feel fat. In a size 10. Scary double digits. I wonder, if sizes came in letters, A,B,C,D and so on, would I feel the same about my body? Or would I equate the letters with school grades and think I have failed if I wear a size F? Yet the numbers serve to tell me that the higher I go, the bigger I am. When in fact I am not big. I am just me. My body is perfectly sized exactly right just for me. So how is it nothing ever fits? Why aren't the clothing companies making clothes that actually fit my body? If one pair of pants is too small in the legs, they're too big in the waist. If another fits in the waist, they are two feet too long in the legs. Trying on endless pairs of pants, I find myself longing for the days where people made their own clothes, or had their own tailor.<br />
<br />
And don't even get me started on those mirrors and those lights! While the clothing may make me feel fat, the lights and mirrors make me feel ugly! Blotchy, pale, discolored, wide, out of proportion--it's like a fun house mirror. If the companies do that on purpose to try and disorient us into making bad purchases, oh wait, it's working. I bought a royal blue blazer at the store where it looked awesome on me in their mirror, but when I got it home it looked like a Wal-Mart cashier blazer! Sigh. Why do I even go shopping? Oh yeah, I usually don't shop at big box stores. Tonight was an exception. I think I'll stick to my local downtown stores who have signs on their regularly lighted mirrors that say "I am beautiful! I love my body." No more exceptions. No more cheap short-cuts to big box stores. Back to thrift stores and saving up for weeks to buy one item at a clothing boutique! You can't really win with clothes shopping, can you?<br />
<br />Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-39879479189560665322013-02-06T19:19:00.002-05:002013-02-06T19:47:01.218-05:00Constraints of a BoxShow me your fist<br />
as if I didn’t know<br />
you could hold it.<br />
<br />
I never feel the blow<br />
in my memory.<br />
I’m too far out to row<br />
<br />
through the possibilities.<br />
Look at this beautiful<br />
mess, the frailty<br />
<br />
of your dutiful<br />
voice: a perfect mess<br />
you yell and yell.<br />
<br />
<br />
©Samantha Kolber 2013Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-26779707029506245152012-12-21T00:06:00.003-05:002012-12-21T00:08:15.789-05:00Seven Minutes for a Solstice Poem<style>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">
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There’s a lot of talk about
“Let’s put the soul back in solstice” but how can we do that when we’re a
society of zombies, walking around flat and attacking innocent children with
semi-automatic weapons?</div>
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<br /></div>
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What soul?</div>
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<br /></div>
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A soul is not a compass,
leading you in a moral direction.</div>
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<br /></div>
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A soul does not cover you like
a shroud, or cloak your nakedness.</div>
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<br /></div>
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It does not stand there, solid
as a tree. A soul is not solid.</div>
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<br /></div>
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How can you dare to put it into
something as sure and solid as the solstice? We can count on the solstice; it
comes twice a year. </div>
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<br /></div>
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It returns to us, unasked.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Once your soul leaves, will it
return? </div>
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<br /></div>
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Sun- and soul-free time of
winter: now is when we make our bad decisions—sleep too late, eat junk food,
plot a massacre, mechanically go about our days.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 243.0pt;">
Winter is when you’ll buy the
things you do not need, say the things you don’t believe, break up with the
ones you love because you’re just so glum and sure to find happiness with
someone else, somewhere else. </div>
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<br /></div>
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So, you search for your soul.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 243.0pt;">
You find that giving a hug to
your son’s teacher at school brings a lump in your throat; being serenaded by a
kilt-wearing banjo player in an art gallery brings tears to your eyes.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Oh yeah, you think: there you
are, my soul.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 243.0pt;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> Samantha Kolber 12/21/12<br clear="all" style="mso-break-type: section-break; page-break-before: auto;" />
</span>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thanks for reading! And yes, I did write this in seven minutes. Part of my desire to be part of the Holiday Blog Tour was to force me to write, as I find myself too busy these days to engage with my passion. So, sitting down for seven minutes at a time works for me.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A BIG THANK YOU to <a href="http://www.writingtoinsanity.com/" target="_blank">Icess Fernandez Rojas</a> for putting this Holiday Blog Tour 2012 together. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Please be sure to read the next featured blogger in the tour tomorrow: Thelma T. Rayna at <a href="http://www.theliteraryself.blogspot.com/">www.theliteraryself.blogspot.com</a>. She has a long list of awards and published books (congrats, Thelma), but more importantly, she writes because it's good for her soul. And yours. Happy reading! And, happy holidays and blessings for the return of the sun.</div>
Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-14500695798566336072012-12-07T10:03:00.001-05:002012-12-28T02:47:48.397-05:00Poet Tree Joins Holiday Blog TourBreaking News: I will be participating in the <b>2012 Holiday Blog Tour</b>! Run by writer and <a href="http://www.goddard.edu/" target="_blank">Goddard College</a> alumna Icess Fernandez Rojas of <a href="http://www.writingtoinsanity.com/2012/11/holiday-blog-tour-dates.html" target="_blank">Writing to Insanity</a>, this tour features an all-star cast of (mostly) women writers & artists in all genres: short fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, painting, illustration, and more!<br />
<br />
Mark your calendars to discover some amazing blog--I mean writing--talent (I will be writing a Solstice poem on the 21st):<br />
<br />
Dec. 7 Lupe Mendez, <a href="http://www.elpoetamendez.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">The Poet Mendez</a><br />
Dec. 8 <a href="http://silenceandhoneysuckle.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Gwendolyn Jerris<span style="white-space: pre;">, S</span>ilence & Honeysuckle<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></a><br />
Dec. 9 <a href="http://natashaoliver.com/Natasha_Oliver/2_cents/2_cents.html" target="_blank">Natasha Oliver, 2 cents</a><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Dec. 10 <a href="http://unsolicitedcertainties.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Regina Tingle,<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> U</span>nsolicited Certainties <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></a><br />
Dec. 11 <a href="http://www.caridad.com/blog" target="_blank">Caridad Pineiro,<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Paranormal Romance Author Caridad Pineiro</a><br />
Dec. 12 <a href="http://www.sententiavera.com/" target="_blank">Teresa Carbajal Ravet,<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Sententia Vera<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></a><br />
Dec. 13 <a href="http://www.audaciouslady.com/" target="_blank">Nathasha Alvarez,<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>AudaciousLady</a><br />
Dec. 14 <a href="http://www.howmanyfrogs.com/" target="_blank">Stephanie Dorman,<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>How Many Frogs</a><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Dec. 15 <a href="http://www.klabeau.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Karen La Beau<span style="white-space: pre;">,</span> My Life on Canvas</a><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Dec. 16 <a href="http://themongaconfesses.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Annette Santos,<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Monga Confesses</a><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Dec. 17<a href="http://www.zoraidawrites.com/" target="_blank"> Zoraida Cordova,<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Zoraida Writes</a><br />
Dec. 18 <a href="http://kristyharding.com/" target="_blank">Kristy Harding, Kristy Harding</a><br />
Dec. 19 <a href="http://morepurplehouses.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Nikki Kallio, Purple Houses</a><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Dec. 20 <a href="http://lovesujeiry.com/" target="_blank">Sujeiry Gonzalez,<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Love Sujeiry<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></a><br />
Dec. 21 <a href="http://www.sam-poet.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Samantha Kolber, Sam Poet</a><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Dec. 22 <a href="http://www.theliteraryself.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Thelma T. Reyna,<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Literary Self</a><br />
Dec. 23 <a href="http://juliaamante.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Julia Amante, Julia Amante</a><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Dec. 24 <a href="http://www.writingtoinsanity.com/" target="_blank">Icess Fernandez Rojas</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I hope you follow along, and happy holidays!Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-69212180025566094952012-11-22T22:40:00.002-05:002012-11-22T22:40:51.772-05:00All She Does is Write it Down and Say Thank You<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>for
Annie Finch</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What she hears</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
in the solitude of water</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
she remembers </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
into poems.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-27555483913297226792012-11-04T14:19:00.004-05:002012-11-04T14:20:59.932-05:00It Was Written Long Ago<div class="MsoNormal">
It was written long ago: the wing’s beat</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and the owl’s stare; the cool drink of morning</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
on the mountain. The verdant fields knew how</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to sing long before the blue bunting rose </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to the occasion, long before tourists </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
rose up from the pavement and declared this </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
land pure. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Vessels with technology might</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
be combing Lake Champlain for history</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
but we know there’s no fatidic tale the</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
lake will tell. It was written in our bones</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
only we don’t pay attention to that </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
story anymore. The ursine birth of </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
our distractions keeps us hibernated</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
through winter and beyond. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 4;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is quiet </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
enough at the top of Owl’s Head to hear </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
your own voice pierce the stillness, crack it like </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
a quartz line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
fear settles over you, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
an infant in a blanket. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The wind. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was written long ago: The echo </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
of someone’s love barely touching your skin. </div>
It<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> was always going to be like this. </span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Samantha Kolber </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> </span>
Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-83536940940294607392012-08-28T02:28:00.002-04:002012-08-28T02:28:28.705-04:00Chris’s Villanelle
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That’s because it’s a burn from<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">the cheap polyester socks that rub
against skin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Every time I slide I get some</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">new scrape on top of the old one.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The healing process can’t begin.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That’s because it’s a burn from<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">being fast enough, or dumb<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">enough to make the slide, again</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>to second. Every time I slide I get some</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">rush of feeling I didn’t have before.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I just quit smoking</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">because it’s like burning from</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">the inside out. I must have smoked a
ton</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>and I never really let anyone in.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sometimes I slide and I get some</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">cigarettes, just to have some</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">security, just in case I need a clip</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">to keep me from the burn, from</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">feeling every time I slide.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-32955206238276825722012-04-27T22:43:00.000-04:002012-04-27T22:43:34.262-04:00God, My FatherAching for a reason, and<br />
Because we don’t know any better we<br />
Coalesce our beliefs with our cognizance.<br />
Defiantly we look out instead of in,<br />
Exacting our own<br />
Fates as if we’re surgeons with no<br />
Grief, looking for a<br />
Harbour from our sins, our desires.<br />
Immortality is what will abrade<br />
Justice over time, just as humanity<br />
Kills again and again the spark, that<br />
Light. Salient and<br />
Manic in our search,<br />
Nearing psychotic episodes<br />
Of garrulous grandiosity like<br />
Prayer. But we still pan for heaven,<br />
Quarrel here on earth. We still ask our questions,<br />
Rage wars that tickle His toes. We<br />
Still try and wend our way to Him.<br />
Thinking like Icarus, we blindly scoop our eyes<br />
Upward to gain entrance. The
<br />Very morning comes<br />
Where this is all a dream, an<br />
X-ray image of my father’s neck confirms:<br />
You fly too close, you do get burned.<br />
Zeroing in on the answer, we keep from flying home.<br />
<br />
Samantha Lori KolberSam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-72495173557861637242012-03-30T00:46:00.002-04:002012-03-30T00:46:40.335-04:00RIP Adrienne Rich<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LL6q7zkw4DQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Sam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-38078103025358345022012-01-29T23:20:00.002-05:002012-01-29T23:22:29.703-05:00Poems Are Never Finished<span style="font-style:italic;">A poem is never finished, only abandoned</span>.<br />Well none of us ever fit the whole of our soul on one page.<br />I look back through my journal, come across <span style="font-style:italic;">anchored</span>, <span style="font-style:italic;">dolphins</span>,<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">flips end over end</span>. It was New Year's Day.<br /><br />He didn't say he didn't love me, though he didn't say he did.<br />With the most ordinary garbage floating around in my brain<br />how could I think he'd pick me? I pick and bite my fingertips till<br />they bleed. Trying to be healthy, we're eating rain-<br /><br />bows and writing down our thoughts. <span style="font-style:italic;">You can't put cerebellum<br />in a poem</span>, he says. <span style="font-style:italic;">The dark and dreamy luxury of winter</span>...<br />Luxury? Winter? What?! Frosted with winter sun,<br />I say, the dark and dreary dream is splintered.<br /><br />Liminality, then. Identity, too.<br />It's small enough, this boundary to you.<br /><br /><br />Samantha KolberSam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059983.post-61635670176558409472012-01-06T23:52:00.001-05:002012-01-06T23:54:19.341-05:00I see a big tree<br />it doesn't see me<br />I am so very small<br />nothing sees me at allSam Poethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164288632914602630noreply@blogger.com0