Writer Advice

In honor of National Poetry Month, we offer the following poems, with thanks to the contributors. Many have let us hold these poems for months.

FIVE MINUTES BETWEEN THERAPY CLIENTS
By Linda Leedy Schneider

Through her window she watches

swans float on a man-made

pond with a concrete fountain

and then looks into an impressionist oil

over her desk. Lush peonies

and always the one fallen

perfect petal--

no insects, no rain, no rot,

nothing grating or grotesque.

In these minutes she sees

the painting’s imperfect perfection

for the first time:

after the woman who last week found

her husband naked with their neighbor,

and before the college professor

who doesn't know why he cries.

Included in "Though My Window: Poetry of a Psychotherapist" (Pudding House Publications, 2007

LINDA LEEDY SCHNEIDER is an award winning internationally published poet and writer, a poetry and writing mentor, a college writing instructor, and a clinical social worker in private practice. Her work has appeared in Rattle Literary Magazine, The Spoon River Poetry Review, Pudding Magazine, Poetry Midwest, and Miranda Literary Magazine. Read a review of “Through My Window: Poetry of a Psychotherapist (Pudding House Publications, 2007) by clicking on Hooked on Books.

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ALL FOR A DAY
By Robert Sward

"All day I have written words.

My subject has been that: Words.

And I am wrong. And the words.

I burn

three pages of them. Words.

And the moon, moonlight, that too

I burn. A poem remains.

But in the words, in the words,

in the fire that is now words.

I eat the words that remain,

and am eaten. By nothing,

by all that I have not made."

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--Reprinted from Collected Poems, 1957-2004, Robert Sward, Black Moss Press, 2004.

Robert Sward has taught at Cornell University, the Iowa Writers Workshop, and UC Santa Cruz. A Fulbright scholar and Guggenheim Fellow, he was chosen by Lucille Clifton to receive a Villa Montalvo Literary Arts Award. Sward's Collected Poems (Black Moss Press) is now in its second printing.

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DOORS OPEN

By Patricia Wellingham-Jones

the house fills

with wind

the mind fills

with words

clank of metal

wind chime

accents

syllables

Patricia Wellingham-Jones has been widely published in print and online journals and anthologies. She is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee. Her website is www.wellinghamjones.com .

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MEMORY WORKS

into the stiff bristles

as I brush my hair cropped short

now, metallic mesh of colors

that were sun-gold once,

tarnished by so many mornings

of the sun-god's passing

through my hair.

By Taylor Graham

Taylor Graham’s poems appear widely in university and small press. He is included in the anthology, California Poetry: From the Gold Rush to the Present. His book The Downstairs Dance Floor (Texas Review Press) was awarded the Robert Phillips Poetry Chapbook Prize.

FREEWRITES

EDITOR'S NOTE: Eleven and twelve-year-olds students in Anna Williams' creative writing workshop at the Santa Rosa Accelerated Charter School, wrote these pieces in response to the prompt “If only…” which was published last fall in Writer Advice.

If only . . . if only it were so simple. Simple . . . but it’s not simple. If only we could snap our fingers, and it would all be fixed. So everyone was happy. If only we could feed the hungry. If only we could stop the evil, the death, the violence, the war. Every war. If only we could have an adventure. If only we could open a restaurant. If only we could have a dog. If only wishes came true. But not wishes of violence and greed. Wishes of joy and happiness. If only that were true. But you can’t have every wish. Then all the pleasures of life are gone, and everything is taken for granted, and there are no surprises. If only it were so simple . . .-- Erik

If only it rained pie. Yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum I would say, before gobbling it all up. I would prefer if there were all sorts of pie like pumpkin, apple, cherry, blackberry, blueberry, meringue, key lime, wild berry, strawberry, raspberry, chicken, fish, banana, circuitboard, garden, almond, peach, pear, fig, and chocolate cream pies. And there would be cream pies for going, "HA-HA (splat)." --Bryce

If only I had a Quad my life would be complete. I would ride it on my three hundred acre ranch. I could go off road and into the mountains. I would bring my Quad up to my other ranch and go pig hunting up there and go in the places a car can’t reach, but only if I had a Quad. --Aidan

Skiing Versus Snowboarding

I don’t understand why many people think snowboarding is better than skiing. Sure, you can do tricks on snowboards, but skiing provides more control in turning and braking. Many times people try to brake while snowboarding because they are going so fast, but instead they land hard in the snow by turning perpendicular to the slope. In skiing, you put the top of your skis together and you come to a gentle stop. Also, when you go on a lift to go up the mountain, you have to take a fot out of your snowboard. On skis, you don’t have to do anything but get ready for the slope. This is why I wonder why many people think snowboarding is better than skiing. --Alex