Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Farren Stanley and Sarah


The Thing To Do In Tuscaloosa Is
Dream about walking back and forth   
across the tracks twice a day.   

The cautionary arm   

lifting and lowering. The  
              bells in sunlight  

There is dumping a can   
of creamed corn into   
water to excite the fish, then   
baiting your hooks with corn.  


The stars are verbs               in the waters that watch them  

There is dipping, where too little will make 
you swallowgag and vomit. Where more 
is preferable. The man at the party 
demonstrates the right pinch and folding 
it under the lip. There are slivers of glass 
in dip, meant to slice open the  gums so 
the tobacco gets in faster. He says it is like 
a hundred cigarettes. You will,   
he says, drool.   

There is fishing  


the moon making little flowers in it,               names with long vowels.   

There is quitting   
smoking.   

There is something called noodling in which 
you let a catfish slide its cold mouth   
over your knuckles and grab.   

There is swimming   
and there are snakes.   

The magnolias will insist that they are also moons, if your definition is something bright  
            and gravitating. 
                                      -Farren Stanley
My lovely friend Sarah sent me that poem.  She really has an eye for beautiful words.  She also has a gift of her own in tangling words together in a way that make your heart go, "Yes!!"  I know one day I will own quite a few of her collections and, they will sit on my bookshelf next to the works of Bukowski, Atwood, The Dickman Brothers, and all the other great poets that we both admire.
How odd, me whispering a secret into Sarah's ear.  Wait, I always tell her my secrets!

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous12/28/2011

    So...are you in Tuscaloosa? Kidding. Great poem, though.

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  2. That is one deep poem. Sarah needs to blog. For realsies.

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  3. Ah, I really like it. But if you had taken credit for it, I woulda believed it was yours ;)

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  4. AZIA! You are too kind. I love when you tell me your secrets!

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  5. Josh- aren't we all in Tuscaloosa, aren't we all!?

    B- Sarah does blog! She is actually the person who introduced me to blogger. If you click her name in the blog, it will bring you to her site. Or, if you look at my blog roll, her blog Here & Now, is listed!

    Gia- haha thanks! I do write.. A lot. Some poetry.. Mostly short stories. I'd share some stuff on here but, Sarah taught me that most publishers will consider things posted as a blog as "previously" published.. So for now, most of my writing is private!

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  6. Sarah- oh stop! It's the truth! :)

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  7. Oh my lord. I've been subscribed to Sarah all this time and I had no idea that you two knew each other. I can feel my head beginning to explode!!!!

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  8. B- The blog world is a small one! Just Another Mrs. is my good friend from middle and high school!

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