My 2016 Rhysling-Eligible Poems (Pub. in 2015):
"Bone-House," Liminality #4, Summer 2015 (LINK TO POEM)
Poem Trilogy: "Red Wire," "Monsters," and "Slipknot"; SWAMP #17, September 2015 (LINK TO POEMS)
"Transition Metal," My Dear Watson: The Very Elements of Poetry, Beautiful Dragons Press, November 2015
(PRINT-ONLY ANTHOLOGY; SEE BELOW FOR TEXT OF POEM)
Transition Metal
I learned metals early. My uncle,
a jeweler, garlanded his mother
in gold. My grandmother's rings
held diamond, topaz, and garnet
too costly for words. At nine,
she fitted a circlet, silver, set
with blood-flecked carbon
on my little finger. I grew
till I had to thread it through
that cheap herringbone chain
a hopeful beau gave me. Kiss
girls after sundown and no-one
will see you wear moonlight
where others insist you don sun.
Poem Trilogy: "Red Wire," "Monsters," and "Slipknot"; SWAMP #17, September 2015 (LINK TO POEMS)
"Transition Metal," My Dear Watson: The Very Elements of Poetry, Beautiful Dragons Press, November 2015
(PRINT-ONLY ANTHOLOGY; SEE BELOW FOR TEXT OF POEM)
Transition Metal
I learned metals early. My uncle,
a jeweler, garlanded his mother
in gold. My grandmother's rings
held diamond, topaz, and garnet
too costly for words. At nine,
she fitted a circlet, silver, set
with blood-flecked carbon
on my little finger. I grew
till I had to thread it through
that cheap herringbone chain
a hopeful beau gave me. Kiss
girls after sundown and no-one
will see you wear moonlight
where others insist you don sun.