Thursday, April 6, 2023

Unmuzzled, Unfettered

My collection of found poems includes ekphrasic collages inspired by works of art from Shakespeare to Charlie Mingus, centos of famous poets from Maxine Kumin to Dylan Thomas, and erasure poems from biographies, novels, and sources as unexpected as an astronomy text and online dictionary.

Here's a sample, an ekphrasic poem written while listening to the Charles Mingus Quintet playing "Alice's Wonderland," published first in Slow Trains Literary Journal, Fall 2005:

alice’s wonderland 

mingus
jarring jazz
magic tunnel
chute

o my desire is spreading 
sweet notes
raucous
jiving down
ears tuning to the treat

if i could eat this sound
i would be drugged
into the fancyland
of new tunes

never tasted fruit
tender meat
purple peals
all-night dreams

if i were feathered
charlie
i would sing
of you in birdland

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