susanstinson: (Default)
[personal profile] susanstinson
Praise for the fat old ladies.
Praise our bristles.
Praise our groaning in the morning
as we negotiate our nightgowns,
appliances and pills.

Praise the unquenchable carnality
of our coughs, full of moist depths,
and the way our mouths hang open
and our faces converge in gatherings
of ineffectual concentration
as we give another round of dominoes
our (impure? because, after all,
competititive and human) best thoughts.

We lose, of course, but play again.
The nightgown tears on the seam above the breast,
but we wear it, still, unmended,
while young women make big curls
in their hair with juice cans,
the results glossy and time-consuming,
as if the war were never over and
victory gardens were all lucky girls might sow.



Lake Buchanan, TX 2006

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 01:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] angiereedgarner.livejournal.com
Amazing-- thank you.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 01:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] susanstinson.livejournal.com
Maybe it kind of goes with your Baubo Dancing...

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 01:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] angiereedgarner.livejournal.com
I'd be flattered to think so.

Boy did that piece debut to a resounding silence. :)

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 01:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] susanstinson.livejournal.com
I was thinking this morning about hearing a really great, intense, challenging poem at a slam once, and how the listeners responded with silence, and the judges gave it a low rating because there was almost no hooting and applause and everyone struggled to grapple with it. Silence can be so complicated.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 01:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] angiereedgarner.livejournal.com
So I try to believe. In person it is obvious when people are engaged but struggling-- it is written all over their bodies. It is hard work to stay in the presence of a piece of art of whatever sort that challenges.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 01:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] susanstinson.livejournal.com
hard work, and also pleasure, and so worth it

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 01:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] daisydumont.livejournal.com
how wonderful. i'm definitely there (sans dominoes).

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 01:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] susanstinson.livejournal.com
love the magic wand

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 01:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jasonelvis.livejournal.com
I'm completely distracted from work by this poem Susan. I keep reading it over and over. I love the way you've painted a picture. Each time I read it I see something else while at the same time notice all the things that aren't there. Who are the girls? Who's the domino opponent? And the last line sort of haunts me "and
victory gardens were all lucky girls might sow." because it reminds me of catching something your Mum says in hushed tones to one of her friends when you're a kid that you nearly understand.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 01:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] susanstinson.livejournal.com
That's pretty perfect, since I've been silently clicking back and forth to your overheard swimming pool changing room conversation.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 01:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wauwau.livejournal.com
Oooooh BEAUTIFUL! Wonderful imagery. And the flow reminds me of one of my favorite poems in the universe:


Peaches
by Peter Davison

A mouthful of language to swallow:
stretches of beach, sweet clinches,
breaches in walls, bleached branches;
britches hauled over haunches;
hunches leeches, wrenched teachers.

What English can do: ransack
the warmth that chuckles beneath
fuzzed surfaces, smooth velvet
richness, splashy juices.
I beseech you, peach,
clench me into the sweetness
of your reaches.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 01:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] susanstinson.livejournal.com
delicious, cold effusions, so sweet

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 01:52 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Wow. Thank you so much for posting this -- it's gorgeous. I love the wry intergenerational solidarity and the imagery. What a very excellent way to start the LJ day... and also the Davison peaches poem! Bonus.

oh, oops

Date: 2006-07-26 01:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] maeve66.livejournal.com
That was me... I didn't mean to post anonymously. Remember, I'm STARTING my LJ day; still not entirely up to speed, on the internet or in real life.

Re: oh, oops

Date: 2006-07-26 01:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] susanstinson.livejournal.com
And pleasing maeve66? even better...

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 01:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] susanstinson.livejournal.com
You're very welcome. Nothing like pleasing an anonymous person early in the day.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 01:56 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] charlottecooper.livejournal.com
What a beautiful poem. I feel transported away from my depressing desk over to Texas, like a guest at your family do.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 01:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] susanstinson.livejournal.com
Whoosh! The magic of being a web expert, filling in or not...

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 02:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] charlottecooper.livejournal.com
There is no magic in this place at all, alas.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 02:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] susanstinson.livejournal.com
The magic of being whooshed away. The secret, squeaky power of defiant shoes, righting all wrongs. The insistent, transcendent, stealthy squeak of your own expert heart.

Thank You!

Date: 2006-07-26 02:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] crazycrone.livejournal.com
So fanfuckintastic. I must save it in my files.
As a fat bristly old groaner, I salute your brilliance.

Re: Thank You!

Date: 2006-07-26 02:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] susanstinson.livejournal.com
Back at you, hon.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 03:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] beccawrites.livejournal.com
hey, thanks susan. i want to make plans for when we're in sf, ok?

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 04:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] susanstinson.livejournal.com
Of course, hon. Send me an email whenever you're ready.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 07:34 pm (UTC)
firecat: damiel from wings of desire tasting blood on his fingers. text "i has a flavor!" (Default)
From: [personal profile] firecat
l o v e

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-26 08:51 pm (UTC)

Profile

susanstinson: (Default)
susanstinson

May 2009

S M T W T F S
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31      

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags