Wife's Tale

the wives in the garden are tapping
their teacups       one of them
.
has gone murdering again    she's 
being chided  her head bowed so all
.
they can see is her fetching pink cap
one wife looks away & ties a green
.
ribbon around her wrist  another
sifts pearls through her palms  and
.
stares intently     thoughts drifting
          the children will be home soon    these chocolate
          biscuits  must be stowed away     we wouldn't want 
          the children to get sick
.
the wife with a jade comb in her 
white hair is firm  
          "you must be sure 
to wash and what you can't wash you burn"

__________

I'm going away to Santa Fe in a few day...z. (almost had some sort of rhyme there) I will be outside of internet contact during that time. If you want to reach me, write me a letter.

I'm very excited. The last time I went on a real vacation like this was in 1997. I'm sure I'll post hundreds of pics when I get back.

The Homewrecker readings were a blast, although the first one, at Happy Ending was the most fun. The "take a risk" trope had me doing something spontaneous on stage, the first time since my days as a stripper (just kidding mom) and I pulled someone from the audience and had my way with her. It reminded me that I must use my psychiatric powers for good, not evil, though, and to stop fucking with people's heads simply because I can.

Obligatory photos:

Me, of course, trying to suck in my cheeks and look sexy in the bathroom before the reading:


Marty McConnell, who I assumed was a man before I met her (the name fooled me) turned out to be a terrific reader and poet. She's like super famous too, been on Def Jam:



Daphne Gottlieb, feminist poet goddess, who put this whole thing together and gained my undying devotion:


Felicia, a fantastic fiction writer, being witty and dry:



Tom Hopkins (Tom Hop) knows what happens when you're bad to your tiger:



This guy was quite great -- sad, scary, compelling, brutal:




For more, go to my flkr account.

Visible Breath

we know nothing about the dead
except that they spy on us
with their green runny eyes, their
pointing fingers shriveled as if
they’ve been in a cold tub too long
in an empty house where frostbitten
daisies and nettles poke up like fingers
next to the listing refrigerator

we know that sometimes they seem to put
their small cold hands on our collarbones
when we are alone in our tub,
the daisy sticker poking our behind
while the frost creeps in its fecundity
across the bathroom window

we know that they love winter and sleep
in the snow covered pines by the Hillsdale
Highway, way out past the trailer park ruined
by a flood, past the abandoned school with its
lone tether ball still swaying
in the nettles’ playground

and we know that if we walk under those trees,
we will find out how much they miss us, how much
they long to hold us in their fragile cold arms
the color of old water and nettles

and we think we know how the soul looks,
a luminous leaf-colored bubble rising
to the daisy-like sun,
because what else could be so softly released
when the frost melts from our hair
after we let them kiss
the visible breath
at our lips, one last time?

Come to my reading Wednesday night!

Or I will be very unhappy and pathetic. Like this:



and nobody wants to see that.

February 22
7:30 p.m.
Happy Ending Reading Series
Happy Ending Bar
302 Broome Street @ Forsyth;
212-334-9676
(B,D to Grand Street or F, J, M, Z to Delancey)
Homewrecker Release Reading with
Susannah Breslin, Christine Hamm, Thomas Hopkins, Marty McConnell, and Felicia Sullivan

New Photos!

I've been working on a still life series. Which one do you like best?

A)


B)


C)


D)

Come to a Homewrecker reading! Polish your transparent excuses, your sad self- justifications!

The writers in Homewrecker: an Adultery Reader are reading as part of its launch in NYC. I’ll be presenting a poem about my dog cheating on me at Happy Ending and the Lucky 13 Saloon this week, but more importantly, there’s these other fabulous writers: Susannah Breslin, Thomas Hopkins, Marty McConnell, and Felicia Sullivan. Finally, Daphne Gottlieb, my counterculture poetry hero, and the woman who pasted this anthology together with her spit and tears, will be reading her work. Daphne is the author of Why Things Burn and Final Girl. You can read about the Homewrecker Anthology here.

Pick a day, although Happy Ending might be the most exciting venue, what with the mandatory tricks and all.

February 22
7:30 p.m.
Happy Ending Reading Series
Happy Ending Bar
302 Broome Street @ Forsyth;
212-334-9676
(B,D to Grand Street or F, J, M, Z to Delancey)
Homewrecker Release Reading with
Susannah Breslin, Christine Hamm, Thomas Hopkins, Marty McConnell, and Felicia Sullivan

February 24
9 p.m.
Lucky 13 Saloon
Homewrecker Release Reading with
Susannah Breslin, Christine Hamm, Jonathan Harper, Thomas Hopkins, Marty McConnell, and Felicia Sullivan
273 13th St. @ 5th Ave.
Park Slope, Brooklyn

Went to a great reading tonight at Fall Cafe -- Brendan Lorber and Dustin Williamson (who I think might be in love; they write a lot of poems together and then joke about "dating" -- tho' Brendan is just back from his honeymoon with Tracey -- oh, the draaaama). Saw a lot of folks from Zinc and Brendan's class at the Poetry Project. He has a way of drawing the most wonderful people to him, except for me, hanging out on the fringes and breathing heavily and scowling at everyone like an Aperger's misfit. Anyway, you can see pics here also of Brendan's wedding bracelet. You might try the link sooner rather than later, as the photos might soon be replaced by wizzing pirates or racist bunnies.

REwrite already? Tell me what you think!

The Life Cycle: Lesson 1

known nun species: beetles wasps bees
lilies flies bears butterflies and elm trees
the life cycle of a nun begins with an egg
which hatches into a larva, for the juvenile
nun life is taken up with eating, growling,
moaning, & growing bigger until she is
ready to become a fist, to enlarge a nun
needs to molt, when the nun is ready the
old skeleton cracks open & the nun
slowly crawls out free of her old ‘skin’
the nun stretches herself out puffs herself
up and dries out her new velvet hands,
a change in form is known as separation:
nuns who undergo complete separation are
called doorways, electricity gives nuns a
significant survival advantage over us

New poem, a bit on the strange side:

The Life Cycle: Lesson 1

the known nun species: beetles, wasps, 
bees, lilies, flies, bears, butterflies
and elm trees 
.
the life cycle of a nun begins with 
   an egg, which 
  hatches into a larva
.
for the juvenile nun          life is taken up 
   .
    with eating, growling, moaning, & 
  growing bigger until she is ready to 
 become a fist
.
to enlarge, a nun needs to   moult. When 
 the nun is ready, the old 
.
  skeleton cracks 
   open and the nun slowly 
 crawls out. 
.
free of her old ‘skin’
  the nun stretches herself out, puffs herself 
up and dries out her new   velvet hands
.

    A CHANGE IN FORM IS KNOWN AS SEPARATION. 
.
   nuns who undergo complete 
   separation are called doorways
.
electricity gives nuns 
   a significant survival advantage
  over us
   

It's snowing! Here's some photos:

New Poem. Warning: it's sweet.


Possible Activities for Homedale, Idaho

pay a dollar 

for a crated chicken at the shack on the edge of town
  set the chicken free in a cornfield      collect shreds 
 of tire from the side of the road    buy a red  plastic 

dinosaur 
 for a quarter at the five and dime   spin on a stool 
at the counter of a diner as you order a milkshake   hang from the 
 rings of the jungle gym 

  at the school across the street   pick gravel 
 out of your knee after you fall    let the hose run  
on your cousin’s lawn until  tiny frogs 
  appear when you move your feet     

  go indoors and sit 
on grandma’s lap     talk to her about the scarred 
     alphabet blocks

 on the kitchen floor  the photos of your uncles shirtless taped
      to the refrigerator door

Call for Poems:

For the first two weeks of February, CARVE Poems invites submissions of poetry
from women only. This is an attempt to stimulate the stifling of a potential
emerging gender gap in my inbox (and my magazine).

Before submitting, if you aren't already familiar with CARVE, I urge you to
visit the website (www.carvepoems.org) and familiarize yourelf with the
magazine (preferably by purchasing a recent issue). When submitting, please put
6-8 pages' worth of poems into a SINGLE .doc or .rtf and attach it in an email
to carvepoems@yahoo.com. Please use your name as the filename. (Example:
harrietwheeler.doc).

Thanks very much.

Aaron Tieger
Editor, CARVE Poems
carvepoems.org