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I was on the Joseph Milford Poetry Show last Friday, November 9. Here’s the recording.
I read from Seriously Dangerous (also available on amazon.com), Mansion of Memory (a few copies available from me), Better With Friends, and my new (in progress) manuscript, Red Berries From the Mountain Ash.
Many thanks to Joe Milford.
Many thanks to Michael Lee Johnson, who has posted a new interview with me on Interviews Poets, Writers. Check it out.
Words Awake!
A Celebration of Wake Forest Writers and Writing!
March 23-25 on the campus of Wake Forest University
I’ll be part of a panel “Writing Poetry” at 9:00-9:50 am March 24
(Eric Ekstrand ‘07, Helen Losse MALS ’00, Robert West ’91) (409 Benson)
part of a reading Writers Reading IV: The Poets: at 3:15 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. March 24
Eric Ekstrand ’07, Helen Losse MALS ’00, John York ’77 (401B Benson)
signing Better With Friends and Seriously Dangerous at the Wake Forest University Book Store table
and selling Mansion of Memory at the table for the Winston-Salem Writers
Join us. It’s free! See entire schedule.
Open Mic at Barnhill’s October 2011
I am the featured poet today on “Poetry Friday” a weekly feature on Women’s Voices For Change: Redefining Life After 40. Read a couple of my poems from Seriously Dangerous and hear a video of an older poem, “The Eagle at Sunset,” that was included in Literary Trails of the North Carolina Piedmont. Then peruse the magazine’s contents and archives for other interesting articles.
Many thanks to Laura Sillerman for requesting these poems.
Orders can now be made from Main Street Rag, or you can get a signed copy from me. If you want a copy of both Seriously Dangerous and Better With Friends, I can cut you deal.
Advance Orders will be sent out soon from Main Street Rag. I don’t know the exact date.
Today we commemorate the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one of America’s greatest civil rights leaders.
*
Martyred At the Lorraine
I can see Martin.
On that balcony.
Hosea. Jesse. Martin. Ralph.
But you will say,
my mind is playing tricks.
That was the night before,
right? Before
he gave that speech
to those garbage men,
going to Mason’s Chapel in pouring rain,
tired as he was.
Sure he would march.
But who would guess,
his final speech
would come in Memphis?
The baritone softly hums “Precious Lord,”
and he smiles.
Wrong again.
That was the day
it happened.
I can see Martin.
At that Negro motel.
He throws out his chest,
waves his hand as he speaks,
guffaws
into the nip of an April twilight,
perhaps picturing his “four little children”:
a robust man, he tells
of what he sees atop the mountain—
in the land beyond,
in the view.
“Oh! . . . ”
The bullet pierced its intended,
and Ralph gently cradled
Martin’s dying head. Who, now,
will choose redemption,
suffering—to implement the dream?
I see Martin carried.
From the Lorraine.
A widening pool of still-warm blood
turns brown.
Helen Losse, “Making All Things New: The Redemptive Value of Unmerited Suffering in the Life and Works of Martin Luther King Jr.,” MALS thesis (Wake Forest University, 2000).
Nancy Simpson, who selected me as Poet on the Month for February on he blog Living Above the Frost Line, saved her favorite poems for last post.
Post 1: February 8: “Deep Purple Shadow” – “Wintertime Prayer”
Post 2: February 20: “A Duplex For Wrens” – “Railroad Flowers” – “History Lesson”
Post 3: February 28: “Negating Natural Erasers” – “Point of Departure”
Many thanks to Nancy for calling attention to my work.
Windows Toward the World 
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