Chris:
This is my response poem to you!
Miles against your rain
for Chris Hayden
You write to see yourself
an autodidact, you said
as if this were the new tomorrow.
When you drag words from me
I feel the soft touch of your hand
I give you mine
not at the end of a rope
not at the end of a gun
not at the end of slime
but full of fruit
like a neighbour giving wine
wrapped in knotted straw
trailing slender card.
I pass you years from my garden bed
words grown in aqua pots
tallish, palpable, never tongue-tied.
Stronger roots grow now
but that was your work not mine.
I only have the struggle of the sun
the pests and weeds
the undergrowth of prejudice
these tiny hands to propegate
the pinks and mauves
of fushia and anemone.
It’s cottage now, except for one white rose
one struggling sapphire stem.
This is all I have for you
a poem to meet your eye
a slice of southern tongue
a non-complacent heart.
An image of you now tells me
your sliding cap to right
sipping nerves into a beer
raising your voice
to an angle of your mind
above tobacco smoke.
Helen Hagemann
>
>
>why not give it a new name like 'Word Jive' or something
>>like that.
>
>Helen:
>
>Fantastic idea! Capital! We can do all kinds of stuff, like toasts,
>boasts, raps, stuff like "Signifyin' monkey" and work the more literate
>stuff in.
>I got some writing news. In one of my other incarnations, I write hard
>boiled crime type stuff--awful, shoot 'em up, dime novel stuff that
I got into to work out some of my frustrations. Today I received
notification from the publication, a top flight participant in the
genre called BLUE MURDER that my story, "Bogey Would Be Proud" will
be in their Hardboiled Holiday issue #16 launching Nov. 30. On top
of all else, they pay!
>
>Chris
>
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