Recording of Robert Okaji’s Poem, “Mayflies”

Hear the words that inspired this artwork for the cover of Robert Okaji’s new chapbook, *From Every Moment A Second* in the voice of the man himself!

robert okaji's avatarO at the Edges

“Mayflies” is included in my chapbook, From Every Moment a Second, forthcoming from Finishing Line Press. FLP is taking prepublication orders here. It was also the inspiration for the artwork gracing the cover. I am in debt to Stephanie L. Harper for providing such a vivid and appropriate piece of art for the book.

Please note:  prepublication sales determine the print run, which means this stage is crucial in terms of how many copies will be printed and the number of copies I’ll receive as payment. So if you feel inclined to help, and are able, please purchase your copy before August 11. Thank you!

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Cover Art for Robert Okaji’s New Chapbook!

Cover_Okaji

Not only was I deeply honored when Robert Okaji enlisted me to be the cover artist for his new chapbook, From Every Moment A Second, but the task proved to be one of the most inspiring and rewarding creative endeavors of my life.

I call this piece, “Dream of Flight,” after a line from a poem in Bob’s stunning collection, entitled, “Mayflies.” I hope it offers readers a small sense of the ways in which my life will never again be the same for having read this magnificent little collection of poetry!

Click HERE to order Robert Okaji’s beautiful new chapbook:

FEMAS Mock cover

available for pre-publication purchase from Finishing Line Press between now and August 11, 2017, and scheduled to ship on October 6, 2017!

 

DAY 30! DAY 30!

This feels a lot more like a beginning than an ending. I’ve accomplished a thing I wouldn’t have guessed I could (though, now I really have my work cut out for me with nearly 7,000 words of new poetry to edit!), and while my eyes are newly opened to the enormous specter of how very little I actually know in this life, I’m feeling eager for the next lesson. I am so humbled by and grateful for your interactions and support this month here on WordPress! From the bottom of my heart, thank you all!

convective_tower

Letter from the Other Side of Halfway 

…Taking a tip from the meadowlark, I head for the high
desert, my flight path crossing the sagebrush-dotted,
red earth, hoping I’ll soon look down & see you floating
in a sea of ten gallon hats, just beyond the convection
columns braced against the electric blue sky.
I don’t suppose your self-claimed exile looks anything
like I’ve imagined? It’s not with a small twinge of jealousy
that I seek consolation in your brand of solitude on the other
side of that horizon line…

The above is an excerpt. Read the whole poem (and catch up on Days 1-29) here!

Western Meadowlark

Day 29! One More to Go!

jack in the pulpit

This is Jack, the real-life subject of Georgia O’Keeffe’s 1930s study

Jack’s in the Pulpit

Inspired by Daniel Schnee   

My verdant brethren of the forest floor
what need have ye for addling adornments?

Shed your dreams of sepals!   Bare your fleshy
spadices…

Continue reading here!

jill-in-the-pulpit

and the lovely Jill!

Days 26 & 27 of 30!

My Dear WordPress Friends!

Thank you for your continued enthusiasm and patience with me! The joyful interactions that have been happening on this site have served to keep me afloat during what has proven to be quite an extreme challenge for me. You’ve made it possible, and for that I am grateful!

Please take a couple of minutes to check out this AMAZINGLY quirky, inspiring & POETIC video I found on YouTube (link below) to accompany my little ditty on Cuttlefish! You won’t be sorry!

 

CuttlefishIntro2

Broken (Day 26)

Your kindergartener learned
a new trick on the monkey bars
yesterday…

Cuttlefish (Day 27)

Watching
the way you negotiate the world
by climbing into platonic forms
to become the myriad     ideal bodies
of the sea floor…

Continue reading both pieces (& catch up on Days 1-25) here!

Poems for Days 23 & 24 of the May 30/30 Challenge are up at Tupelo Press!

plants in moonlightI got #24 in last night at about 10 pm, so count it! It’s coming down to the wire here, and I may very well have dug as deep as deep goes, but who knows? No one’s singing just yet… Thanks so much for following along with me this month, everyone!

Psychedelic (Day 23)

in a substance-less trip
to the universe yet to be
uncovered
where atoms infused with
one and a half teaspoons of photons…

Osmosis, and the Willingness of Light to Participate (Day 24)

With thanks to Ken Gierke* for supplying the title!

When     at the behest of a word
light—as in     Let there be…—was parsed
apart from her swirling enmeshment in shadow
such that stultified yang stretched out
into a borderless     yin-less orphan
only to be instructed to believe it was good
was the day she dissociated from her true self
somewhere in spacetime…

Continue reading both pieces (& catch up on Days 1-22) here!

*Check out Ken’s lovely work on WordPress at rivrvlogr !

Poems for Days 21 & 22 of the May 30/30 Challenge are up at Tupelo Press

moonlight

Insomniac’s Fugue

sleepless penitence sings the present inheritance
composed of feckless forebears & their victims
repeating measures in blood    an imperative surging
the body awake at night…

Continue reading here…

Support my 30 poems in 30 days with a donation in any amount here.

Day 20 Poem of the May 30/30 Challenge is up at Tupelo Press!

Belladonna

Les Belladones sans Merci

What ails you, Keyboard Warrior,
alone & typing in your room?
No nightshades blossom on my screen
     to face our doom…

What ails you, Keyboard Warrior,
with swollen eyes & bearing rough?
That tawny succor in your mug
won’t be enough…

Continue reading here!

Facebook flower

Poems for Days 18 & 19 of the May 30/30 Challenge…

Insecurity (Day 18)

born a bastard
i was cast
on a doorstep of nobles     & founded
in a mold of changing hands
& intrigue…

Rationale for Missing Deadlines (Day 19)

As a child     I so loved looking from the outside in
at frozen images portraying quaint examples
of how time took longer
for folks in the olden days…

Continue reading along here