FEATURED POET: Kelly Cressio-Moeller’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Boxcar Poetry Review, Crab Creek Review, Crab Orchard Review, Gargoyle, Pirene’s Fountain, Poet Lore, Rattle, Southern Humanities Review, THRUSH Poetry Journal, Valparaiso Poetry Review, and ZYZZYVA as well as in Diane Lockward’s book, The Crafty Poet. She shares her fully-caffeinated life with her tall husband, two ever-growing sons, and their immortal basset hound in Northern California. She’s at work on her first book of poems.
Speaking of the Crab Creek Review!
Seattle-based literary journal Crab Creek Review is in its 31styear of publishing the best writing from the Northwest, and beyond. New Editors-in-Chief Ronda Broatch and Jenifer Browne Lawrence feature a host of marvelous poets and writers including Judith Barrington, Wyn Cooper, Tom C. Hunley, Tina Kelley, Bill Neumire, and Diane Seuss. The results of the 2014 poetry contest, judged by Sarah Vap will appear soon. Visit Crab Creek Review at Crab Creek Review or find them on FaceBook
Magnolia Soulangiana (saucer magnolia)
Staring at a tree, I
felt the pulse of a stone ~ Theodore Roethke
i
mistrustful of evergreens.
defined as deciduous was part of the appeal.
every living thing should shed its skin once a year.
one left in the back, nearly dead – perfect, i’ll take it.
ii
sculptural as coral, judging by the photo.
slender bare branches promised to proffer dark purple
saucers of tea, goblets of port, depending on my mood.
if she were lipstick, i would name her violet empress.
iii
she didn’t look like much. a few jaundiced ovals resembled
leaves. six years until she felt strong enough in smooth
pewter
skin. long buds broke open in late winter, unexpectedly
white
with pink veins, little scars, along tepals soft as
well-worn suede.
iv
to be transplanted, separated from everything you’ve known,
takes a healthy yawn of time to revive, recover, return to
normal.
offer fertile ground warmed by morning light, roots will
serpent
underground, search for water, take hold. find a way to
thrive.
―Kelly Cressio-Moeller
*first published at Pirene’s
Fountain, Spring 2011, vol. 4, Issue 9 and in the anthology
“First Water: Best of Pirene’s Fountain”, Glass Lyre Press, 2013.
Ode
to Yellow
after
Dorianne Laux
Canary.
Gosling. Bumblebee stripe. The eyes of blackbirds.
Citrine. Pollen.Residue of saffron. The brick road in Oz.
Gold.
Dandelion & harvest moon. Butter & whipped honey.
The middle child traffic light. Chardonnay. Cowardice.
The cabin’s porch light. A newborn’s jaundice.
Eagle’s feet. Iodine. Goldenrod in a mason jar.
Custard. Fireflies. Gingko trees in wintertime.
Sunflowers.
Their lover.
Egg yolks. Telephone books. Black-eyed Susans. Bruises.
Crime scene police tape.
Legal pads my father used to write upon.
German postal bikes. The Beatles’ submarine.
Taxi. Hydrant. Urine. Toenail fungus.
Her fingertips after twenty years of inhaling.
Parchment just before burning.
Flames.
Kelly Cressio-Moeller
first published in Diane Lockward’s, “The Crafty Poet: A Portable Workshop” from Wind Publications, 2013
first published in Diane Lockward’s, “The Crafty Poet: A Portable Workshop” from Wind Publications, 2013
The poem above strikes you as a person sifting through snapshots in a box they found in the attic. Before we snapped all our photos on our phone all of would have piles of memories tossed in boxes.
Find one of the boxes. Sift through your cell phone. Write a poem that shows the tension between disconnected images that find their only common place in your life.
Print two copies on recycled paper. Hand one to a friend. Make a paper boat and float the other one in a nearby river.
