No Place Like Decorum
I’d like to live in a magazine
for a spell… to laze beneath high ceilings,
sink into overstuffed cushions,
admire a variety of whatnots.
Footstool here, taper candle there.
Chair wearing its throw like a pashmina.
Colors that contrast, disparate art.
All is in accord.
Behind the décor is a good eye…
beholder who makes a place
inviting, sets the moon cactus in a chipped
cup, believes that fine china has character.
~CMH
When David Lehman offers a poetry prompt for his column "Next Line, Please" of The American Scholar, try your hand! Of course, the latest column is titled "Dead Man's Hand," but have no fear, this is all in fun... serious fun (more on that descriptor another time). Seriously, I would not have written my poem "Theatrics" in response to a Botticelli painting without prompting. I doubt my poem would have gone in the direction it did without this writing community and its esprit de corps. Here's a link to the most recent column, where you'll find "Theatrics" and other wonderful poems generated by "Next Line, Please":
https://theamericanscholar.org/dead-mans-hand/
Again to Art on Cullers Run
Let’s gather today, ta da,
as the mist veils the world from sight.
Take a load off—
bask in soft silks and molten jewels,
the smell of wildflowers.
We are the art, word fodder.
His wallet, sleeping till 12 pm, yawns
“oh-well.” I need to buy some poetry.
Red-tailed hawk screams, “what
should our best be?”
The part inside that sings?
Trying desperately—running from
wasps—holding the exposed parts
together.
I saw a moose––oh really?––standing
alone in our field, taking a minute
to warm up to the art.
Rhododendron frames the silence,
unaspirated. A tapestry underneath
is dancing to mellow songs, knitting
useful waste.
a monarch pauses
one wing leads to another
reverberations
This community is almost haiku,
not even a page, open space.
Feel the positive breeze blowing
through the hollow.
~voices of visitors to the Poetry Porch at "Art on Cullers Run"
(assembled by Charise Hoge)
"Art on Cullers Run" 2025 is right around the corner!
I will be in the poetry tent July 4th & 5th to greet you, meet you, create a new community poem, and share my work. The locale is lovely, the artists are talented, the mood is festive. Art uplifts.
the little things, mon amour
It’s an inside joke how you say “armoire”
for “chaise”—
how you speak for the arm of a seat
like anatomy well-illustrated
in medical books you fetch
from foreign antique shops,
a habit that’s getting costly,
maybe out of hand,
but we own the armoire
as well as the chaise—
which is often an auto
corrected form of my name.
~CMH
This poem is in response to a prompt concerning mistakes and typos from "Next Line, Please" of The American Scholar.
Upcoming Event!
 |
| The Journey Space: A Healing Arts Center |
Here are the details:
July 12, 2:00-3:00 pm Poetry Reading & Sound Healing; 3:00-3:30 Book Signing
