Harvested

04/10/13


It falls unaware of number,
age or sway of crops
left standing. It does not wait
for the funeral tent

nor see the lightness of green
turn to earth-brown black.
It falls as fast
as knees are slow to bend
for palms to take root and grow
moans from the ground.  It takes

away as it falls -- walls over hands,
the sound of bones
before they float, eyes
among stones, the red coat of leaves --
until the mud stops, the clouds break
into gray.  The sky, an off-white, unseen

when the tent strained and held
all the black that could not stand
like crops that did not un-bend, un-shake
or run out of falling grains.



                            S.L. Corsua
                            04/09/13


* Hello, blog. Hello, poetry. I've missed you both.


posted by S.L. Corsua

poem published in Melusine

04/07/12


The Spring/Summer 2011 issue of Melusine includes a poem of mine:




Click here to view the full contents of this issue of Melusine. You may also go directly to the Featured Poetry list of twelve (12) poems here. The poems in this issue are remarkable; some leave a lasting impression with respect to all things female. Have a look for yourself. :) My personal favorite in this issue is Katherine D. Perry's "Beach Girls" (read here).



Melusine, or Woman in the 21st Century, is an online journal of literature and art by women (but not only women) about women. Many thanks to the editor, Janelle Elyse Kihlstrom, for accepting and publishing my poem, "The Complications of Eating Adobo."

This issue of Melusine came out in June 2011. I know, I know, I should have posted about this much sooner, but I was on a blog sabbatical. Work is a jealous... drill sergeant. It demands, and I give. Because like a soldier, I'm 'built' for the work that I do. That doesn't mean this workaholic isn't about to drop dead from fatigue, though. Heh. I realize that I need to balance myself before I fall and, worse, forget... that creative writing may be the kind of writing that I can't charge as 'billable hours,' but it's my kind of living and, frankly, I want to hold back the dying.


posted by S.L. Corsua

poem published in Eclectica

11/01/10


The Oct/Nov 2010 issue of Eclectica includes a poem of mine:


Click here to view the full contents of this latest issue of Eclectica. You may also go directly to the Poetry List here.



Eclectica was founded in October 1996. Yes, 1996! Fourteen years later, founder Tom Dooley is still doing what he does best, "providing quality material for the appetites of a wide variety of demanding readers." (Click here and here to read more about this literary magazine.)

The following are several of my favorites among the poems appearing in its past issues:

The Story by Shoshauna Shy (Eclectica, Apr/May 2010 issue)

Anna, Let Me Introduce Some More of Me to You by John Grey (Eclectica, Oct/Nov 2009 issue)

the planes, they land with a thud by Rohith Sundararaman (Eclectica, Apr/May 2009 issue)

Portrait of A Soldier by Michael Caylo-Baradi (Eclectica, Apr/May 2009 issue)



Many thanks to Jennifer Finstrom, Poetry Editor, and to Tom Dooley, Managing Editor, for accepting and publishing my poem, "Gilon-Gilon (The Harvest)." Tom, I can't wait for Eclectica to hit the two-decade mark. Cheers!


posted by S.L. Corsua

poems published in JMWW

10/02/10


Two poems of mine appear in the Fall 2010 issue of JMWW:


Click here to view the full contents of this latest issue of JMWW.



JMWW has been in the publishing scene since 2004. The following are several of my favorites among the poems appearing in its past issues:

Hash Browns by Amy MacLennan (JMWW, Fall 2009 issue)

Garlic by Amy MacLennan (JMWW, Fall 2009 issue)

from where i am, i search by CM Burroughs (JMWW, Fall 2008 issue)

Flying or Falling by Cami Park (JMWW, Summer 2007 issue)



Many thanks to Jenny Sadre-Orafai, Senior Poetry Editor, and to Jen Michalski, Editor in Chief, for accepting and publishing my poems, "The Fathers of Sagada" and "A Soap Opera Critic." Cheers.


posted by S.L. Corsua

impetus of a confessional poem

07/28/10


the poem saunters to you

     with a pack of human fingers
     (smooth, callus-free, unbent
     from not writing); the poem

asks if you've got it: have you
got a light?







06/26/10


* Here's an ars poetica poem, with the confessional poets (Sylvia Plath at the helm) in mind.


* Time for a bit of poetry confession --

(1) I rarely write confessional poems. Too easy to get hooked on; difficult to wean one's self from.
(2) I don't write poetry during periods of heightened emotions. It's a conscious choice.
(3) I have a penchant for persona writing. It's more fun than omniscience.
(4) I relish personification. I'm a very curious relativist.
(5) Pet Peeve Numero Uno: its versus it's.


posted by S.L. Corsua

Tuesday Poem: Salvage Worker Makes a Video...

06/15/10

Salvage Worker Makes a Video Log Entry


maneuvering an asteroid is no mean feat,
i tell you. i've got to make sure
i get it back to the yard or else
mr. superior will blackhole my paycheck.
but jupiter really tests the brakes,
know what i'm sayin'. we've lost
a couple of company cruisers
to its g-belt. now, they're just junk
the government won't even flick
a tentacle to tow away. but i get
to keep this thankless job. i just hope
my brakes hold long enough
while my trusty wrench and i
salvage what company crap we can
from these dead floats. the mechanics
with their eight grimy sleeves will cuss
me at clock-out, for sure. they keep tellin'
i should work the bolts with care. i've been
savin' up bolts for their birthdays. nuts.
i'd better remember to pocket
a green tube from the old fission
reactor for my kid's diorama
homework. he's doing this bit
on outdated hardware. i tell him,
why don't you just snap a hologram of me
while i haul myself and this screeching rock
out of the garage?
he just snorts
(my own flesh and goo, what can i tell you).
green, daddy, green! don't forget!
i didn't. i'll get him all the colors
i could yank from the messy board
even if it mottle-fries my arm.
that kid better be wishin' hard
my brakes don't die. i got saturn next
on my list, and that's overtime
pay for the missus.



                            S.L. Corsua
                            11/04/08


* I don't remember now what prompted me to write this poem, but I do know that when I finished it (and when the laughter had settled) I decided to dedicate it to Douglas Adams, in memory of his gifted imagination, sharp wit, and unmitigated humor.

Hats off to you, DNA. "So long, and thanks for all the fish."


* Do visit the Tuesday Poem site, and read the featured poem picked by this week's editor, Mary McCallum. Once you're there, you might also be interested in checking out the poems posted by the contributors; the direct links to said poems are indicated in the sidebar. Cheers.


posted by S.L. Corsua

Tuesday Poem: On Marrying a Poet

06/08/10

He called me modern
as though his hair greyed
faster than mine. When sullen
he would mutter Poe's
last four lines in "Alone"
under his breath, thinking me deaf

for rhyme. But I who fell
for his Yeats (when he was but shy
in his boyhood, slipping love
letters in my purse) would lead
his conscious measuring
lips to my breast --

where trails that curve and drawl
whet
          his attention
for my free
          undulating
verse.



                            S.L. Corsua
                            11/25/07


* Edgar Allan Poe's "Alone" is one of my favorite classic poems. Here are its last four lines:


               From the thunder and the storm,
               And the cloud that took the form
               (When the rest of Heaven was blue)
               Of a demon in my view.


The "demon in my view" line cracks me up whenever I imagine the conversation of the (fictional) married couple in the first stanza of "On Marrying a Poet."

To those who read and/or write and appreciate both formal poetry and free verse: cheers.


* Do visit the Tuesday Poem site, and read the featured poem picked by this week's editor, Kay McKenzie Cooke. Once you're there, you might also be interested in checking out the poems posted by the contributors; the direct links to said poems are indicated in the sidebar.


posted by S.L. Corsua