Two joyful acquisitions came during the winter holidays—I received
two books where my poems were published.
The first was The
Skinny, Poetry Anthology edited by Truth Thomas. Truth invented a form
called the Skinny and regularly publishes poems in this form on his website.
The rules of the Skinny are as follows:
·
Total of 11 lines where first and last lines
contain the same words but not necessarily in the same order.
·
The lines between line 1 and 11 are only one
word.
·
Lines 2, 6 and 10 are exactly the same word.
Typically, the poem looks like a square capital C. I took liberties with the form and ran a line
of single words down the righthand side so that my poem then looks like a
square. The title of my skinny is “Weslaco Texas a dark comedy.” It was
inspired by what my sister who lives in Weslaco said about hearing frequent gunshots.
She lives in the Rio Grande Valley, the border between Texas and Mexico.
Other poets known to me include: Tara Betts, Brian Gilmore,
Gregory Luce, Naomi Thiers, Truth Thomas, and Anne Harding Woodworth. It’s a
handsome volume on glossy paper beautifully produced. It includes some poignant
photographs of migrants coming into the United States. In his introduction,
Truth writes that many of the poems are “drawn from the wellsprings of delight.
However, a goodly number testify to acute social pain the twenty-first century’s
troubling youth—particularly in America…”
The second book is #68 edition of Pudding Magazine, The Journal of Applied Poetry. In this handsome volume,
I have two poems: “what was taken” and “thanksgiving on the rocks.” Both of
these poems are from an unpublished manuscript now circulating entitled when it drops you gonna feel it. While I
only recognize the name of Diane Kendig, the volume is filled with poets of
substantial credits and poems that made me think. The magazine also includes a
section of brief book reviews. So pleased to be published in this edition of Pudding Magazine.
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