Release Day

5/5/25  https://kelsaybooks.com/products/inheritance-of-flowers

Dancer-Poet

On this last day of National Poetry Month, here is a glimpse of dancer-poet as performing artist. I had the pleasure of joining the cast of "The Power and the Voice of Women in Dance through the Millennia" on April 19th, directed by Karen McLane. There was narrative, and dances that women dance to heal, to celebrate, to speak in a language based on the female body and psyche. 

"Bacchanal" 

I raise a glass to all the other dancer-poets who are speaking, speaking... 

Cheers,
Charise

Proof

We're getting closer to the release date for Inheritance of Flowers. 

Here’s my proof (book). 

And, poof! This typewriter is worn out. 

Cheers,

Charise

"Wanting"

This is a piece I wrote in response to a prompt from David Lehman in his column "Next Line, Please" of The American Scholar. The prompt itself is as follows: use one of five Proverbs of Hell by William Blake as your "point of departure." My choice? "The nakedness of woman is the work of God." What immediately came to mind was to flip this statement, resulting in "God is the work of nakedness of woman." Controversial? My premise is that Blake's "God" is set in a historical context which allows for interpretation. My astute fellow writers, and Lehman himself, suggest omitting the first line altogether, ultimately freeing my poem from its initial departure. Would you? 

From "Next Line, Please" March 21

The first line of Charise Hoge’s “Wanting” provoked debate. Was it merely a rhetorical trick?

God is the work of nakedness of woman.

A piece of work, this god. Woman sheds

her corset, crinoline, bustle, chemise,

petticoat and drawers–so to soften god’s

vengeful manner. She cuts off her hair

and peels back her skin smooth as a grape.

She dissolves into pulp. Not even god

can find her. But wants to.

Here's the link to the column for more:

https://theamericanscholar.org/the-nakedness-of-woman/ 

How the Clues Add Up

 Three clues add up to one answer. Here is the title page of my upcoming book:

First edits of the layout are underway.
Kelsay Books estimates two months until publication. 

Inheritance of Flowers will soon become a book to hold in your hands, turn the pages, read any and all of its sixty-one poems! 

 

Spring for poetry. 

Cheers,

Charise

"Creed"

 

Creed

 

I believe in frogs

   their ins and outs     

leaps to bounds     

   how they splay—

 

set a spray

   of watery beads

break surface

   plop soundly—

 

only idea stays

   visible invisible

spoken through

   the droplets—

  

this comfort with

   one’s element

slippery as it is, easy

   to slip away entirely—

 

 

~LCMH

On Location

Of course, during a Paris visit, I returned to the sites featured in poems of Muse in a Suitcase. These poems were written in absentia, based on memories and events. They are now enlivened by a fresh glance on location. For instance: 

 

Two blocks along 

the Rue de Seine... 

  ~ from "Ode to the Big Tomato"

 

A beacon in a city of light when

I was twenty and reticent.

   ~ from "Shakespeare and Company" 

Consider visiting, or revisiting, Muse in a Suitcase today. If you lack a copy, go to Barnes and Noble, Amazon, or Bookshop.org to order yours. Paris (as well as Morocco, India, Thailand, Panama, Israel, Italy) awaits!

Cheers,
Charise