poetry project 365 (2009)

Day 126: ‘Across Every Valley, Across Every Roof’

The Flood by Leonard Cohen The flood it is gathering Soon it will move Across every valley Across every roof The body will drown And the soul will break loose I write all this down But I don’t have the proof [Project 365]

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Fran Moments poetry the family

Fran Moment of the Day: The Tale of the Lost Ring

My mother has been grieving for weeks over a ring that my dad gave her on April 1 four years ago that she lost recently. She left me the saddest voice mail earlier today, first recapping all the local news (my sister has pneumonia, my dad’s heart doctor appointment here in town is for the 9th, etc.) and then wrapping up the message by saying how she was kinda down today because of the missing…

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poetry

‘The white hankerchief stuck in my throat’

Scanning Memphis blogs, came upon this poem. It’s fantastic. Emptying Town by Nick Flynn I want to erase your footprints from my walls. Each pillow is thick with your reasons. Omens fill the sidewalk below my window: a woman in a party hat, clinging to a tin-foil balloon. Shadows creep slowly across the tar, someone yells, “Stop!” and I close my eyes. I can’t watch as this town slowly empties, leaving me strung between bon-voyages,…

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poetry

Early 2009 poetry dump

I can’t imagine anything more … odd … than an old-poetry dump here at T&G, since I don’t write much poetry these days and poetry is one of those things that people either love or hate. (And most people lean toward the hate side.) But for whatever reason, I was combing through my e-mail drafts earlier today (*cough*boredom*cough*) and rediscovered all sorts of weird little blank verses I’d written over the past four years, and…

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poetry

A Friday-night poem

It’s late and I’ve had some leftover champagne, so surely I can be forgiven for waxing romantic about notions of life and creativity and love on all levels. I was reading a fairly depressing comment thread over at Salon the other day (depressing in that so many people want to dispense advice to an author who isn’t even asking for it) and this poem cropped up in it, like some little pearl ascending out of…

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