Life in Me like Grass on Fire: Love Poems

Launch of the MWA Poetry Anthology April 25, 2011 at the Towson Library; 6:30 to 8:30. Come,listen,read (open mic)and eat! Edited by Laura Shovan, there are 50 poems by 90 of us, Maryland Poets, reading about the many facets of love. Will post a sample later.

Taken from "Yellow as Turmeric, Fragrant as Cloves"

MUSTARD SEED

for Maria


I see you in kernels of rice,
palisade cells of leaves,
humble mustard seeds and redwood trees,

xylem veins carrying water, not blood,
phloem with sugars and minerals,
stomates like nostrils flaring, respiring,

transpiring, anchoring roots to earth,
branches to heaven. When you shape clouds, flood plains,
rain upon a parched palm,

you are half god, half woman,
yellow as turmeric, fragrant as cloves,
constant as the eventide.

Why this blog name--"Fragrant as Cloves?"

"Fragrant as cloves" is a line taken from my poem, "Mustard Seed," which was written in memory of Maria, my 5-year old little sister. Hers was the first funeral I attended when I was 11 years old, my first experience of the permanence of death. She sits in a little silver frame on my dresser, still a little girl of five. The poem was published in an anthology entitled, "Yellow as Turmeric, Fragrant as Cloves," (Deep Bowl Press, 2008) where the editor, Anne Marie Fowler, also used Maria's poem to title the book.

Getting Started on Blogging

Am excited to get started. This is day 1 of getting frustrated. I do like the colors on my blog, though!