Saturday, November 13, 2021

Friday, November 12, 2021

ADA LIMON ~

 




A Name



When Eve walked among

the animals and named them —

nightingale, red-shouldered hawk,

fiddler crab, fallow deer —

I wonder if she ever wanted

them to speak back, looked into

their wide wonderful eyes and

whispered, Name me, name me.



________________

Ada Limón

The Carrying

Milkweed Editions

2018


Ada Limón - Image: Christopher.Michel on Visual Hunt






Wednesday, November 10, 2021

Monday, November 8, 2021

W.G. SEBALD ~

 


R E A D      M E



There have been at least three biographies 

all by women, all about men 

each one outstanding —

Thoreau

Hemingway

now, Sebald

Thoreau, a life by Laura Dassow Walls

Ernest Hemingway, Mary V. Dearborn

Speak, Silence, Carole Angier

No hesitation


Sunday, November 7, 2021

Friday, November 5, 2021

POEM FOR STILLNESS ~

 





Poem for Stillness


He stirs his tea with a gun barrel

He solves the puzzle with a gun barrel

He scratches his thoughts with a gun barrel


And sometimes

he sits facing himself

and pulls bullet-memories

out of his brain


He's fought in many wars

but is no match for his own despair


These white pills

have left him so colorless

his shadow must stand up

to fetch him water


We ought to accept

that no soldier

has never returned

from war

alive



___________________

Garous Abdolmalekian

Lean Against This Late Hour

Penguin, 2020






Thursday, November 4, 2021

NABANEETA DEV SEN ~

 






First Confidence



Rain sweeps through my drapes
this monsoon morning, as curtains toss,
every door flies open toward the past.
The dry leaves melt away, soaking wet,
the footprints now lie hidden in moss.

I unfold my face into the rain,
I wrap my body in drenched gair.
Now, lifting my eyes, I stand tall
and, in this free and weightless light,
I say with confidence, for the first time —
I have forgotten all.








Sometimes, Love



It comes when called. Like a pet cockatoo,
it sits on my finger, fluttering.
It sways its neck, fluffs its feathers, swings its crest,
and recites its practiced lines, uttering
every pleasing word.
My lily-white bird
repeats to me all that it's been taught and sings best.
Saying just what I want to hear,
it pours honey into my ear.

But behind my back, soon after,
alone, perched on its base,
my lily-white bird
clatters its shiny shackles
as it cackles with laughter,
shedding feathers
in empty space.




Acrobat

Nabaneeta Dev Sen

translated by Nandana Dev Sen

Archipelago Books 2021




Wednesday, November 3, 2021

BOB ARNOLD, BACKROAD CALLER ~

 









Bob Arnold
Back Road Caller
Longhouse 
2021


A fine sheaf
many-colored
& limited
$10
postpaid



We accept Paypal

Please use our email address of 

longhousepoetry@gmail.com


Payable by check ~

Longhouse 

PO Box 2454

West Brattleboro, Vermont 05303





Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Monday, November 1, 2021

Saturday, October 30, 2021

Friday, October 29, 2021

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

FROM MONTANA: BOB LOVE POEMS ~





Bob Love
Kinnikinnick
Longhouse 
2021


A fine sheaf of poems from a
Montana logger
many-colored
& limited
$10
postpaid



We accept Paypal

Please use our email address of 

longhousepoetry@gmail.com


Payable by check ~

Longhouse 

PO Box 2454

West Brattleboro, Vermont 05303


Monday, October 25, 2021

JOHN BRADLEY KNOWS VALLEJO ~

 





Hotel Montparnasse



Written in soap on the mirror in Vallejo's room:


Paul Celan does not like to be touched.

Remedios Varo does not like talking turnips.

Frida Kahlo will not eat uncooked termites.

Robert Desnos does not like to wear a tether.


Lenora Carrington does not like to be tickled.

Jerzy Kosinski does not like to cut his toenails.

Kiki will not go near a jar of pickled tonsils.

Frederico Garcia Lorca is allergic to pasta a' la Franco.


Charlotte Corday does not like a wet wig.

Apollinaire does not like to ride in a blimp.

Mayakovsky does not like to be truncated.

Julio Cortazar does not like a wet matchstick.


Gertrude Stein does not like to be called Twinkle Toes.

Joyce Mansour cannot tolerate the sound of a tuning fork.

Pablo Picasso will not dine near Charles Baudelaire.

Cesar Vallejo does not like giving birth to Cesar Vallejo.


[ Unsigned ]



_________________________

John Bradley

Hotel Montparnasse

Letters to Cesar Vallejo

Dos Madres, 2021



This glorious book of poems (portraits)

is an ideal finished film script for

Wes Anderson to now take over



Sunday, October 24, 2021

THE SORRENTINOS ~

 



Credit...via Christopher Sorrentino


R E A D     M E

(an excellent review

of this son's memoir)


Catapult, 2021