EVENT: McKinney reading tonight at 8 p.m.
Poets are scheduled to turn out to honor W.Va. poet laureate Irene McKinney, 8 p.m., tonight, Monday, June 23, 2008, at The Scottish Rite Temple, 406 Capitol St., Charleston, W.Va. (beside Kinko’s). Featured writers: Jayne Anne Phillips, Maggie Anderson, Diane Gilliam Fisher, Jeanne Bryner, Doug Van Gundy, Kate Long and Devon McNamara. McKinney will also read. Sponsored by the Charleston Gazette, thegazz.com and FestivALL Charleston.
Here’s a sample poem from McKinney’s most recent book:
Atavistic
I wanted to walk without clothing
in the woods beside the creek,
and to come to the barn at night
and sleep beside the horses, curled
in the smell and scratch of hay
with the bitch and pups.
The life of the house was flat,
filled with monotonous talking,
passing to and fro among the rooms,
and for what. My mother hated
animals, the way they ate the
food and dirtied the floor.
They were her enemies; she fought
their right to be there and
would have wiped them off the earth
if she could have. If a cat or a dog
came too close to the back door she
threw scalding water on it, and
was righteous in her anger, shouting
that they were not human and
didn’t feel real pain.
If we must choose sides, I said
as a child, I take
the side of the animals.
– Irene McKinney from “Vivid Companion”. © Vandalia Press. Reprinted with permission.
Click here to check out earlier blog posts about Irene McKinney.
***
Dear Vic,
Here are a few cat haiku for Mountain Word. Hope you enjoy them =)
– Amy Marie Hess, WV Poetry Society Vice President
Links
Mr. Microsoft
Word Assistant, would you please
stop pawing at me?
**Links is the cat MS Word Assistant, as apposed to the paper clip guy.
Walking Sticks
Walking stick on nose,
unable to be shaken,
the cat’s meow — “Help!”.
Mouse Feast
Crouched low in tall grass,
she awaits the arrival
of tonight’s mouse feast.
Prey
Dancing by the moon,
scurries and bounding leaps–
the cat and her prey.
Cats Affection
A gentle wet nose
nudges me in my slumber
to show tender love.
The Gift
My gift this morning,
found laid out at the doors length,
is a small chewed snake.
***
Is this light-hearted enough? This is my cat haiku. Christine Atwell
sharp nails and white teeth
destroy flowers and cute mice
fur lovely to touch
***
Karin Fuller to Vic Burkhammer
Just wanted to say how much I’m enjoying your MountainWord blog. I like what you’re doing.
I saw your request for haiku and thought I’d tip you off to V100’s DJ Ric Cochran’s haiku blog. He just started it about a month ago, and I’m pretty impressed with some of them. You can tell he’s having fun with it. Ric’s such a hyperactive guy, with a mouth that never stops, so I have trouble imagining him slowing down enough to write. Some of the pictures on his blog were painted by his wife, Jeanne K, who is the noon DJ at V100.
