Please enjoy the poem, and feel free to leave a comment.

Examination

For I will consider my teeth.
For they are at once a great blessing and bane.
For they are younger than me and yet more speedily decline.
For their wisdom was impacted and pulled fourfold.
For this was done by force and regretted.
For they are a tribe.
For each day they call roll by means of the tongue.
For they have learned by heart their appointed tasks.
For some make themselves hatchets.
For some do the work of a mortar and pestle.
For some live by the sign of the dog and thus tear.
For half live upstairs, half down, and come together amenably for meals.
For they are the servants of the jaw, duly and daily at work.
For they brood over a host of sweet things.
For with age a blast of cold dismays.
For the sound of the drill is a scourge.
For one suffers heavily under the burden of a crown.
For they rue giving pain and grieve the tiniest hole.
For the which penance they nightly abide the whip.
For they reside in darkness and do not complain.
For they tell stories of the vastness outside.
For in their myths the gods are great oaks.
For they consider themselves also noble and rooted.
For they, like the branch, push forth well-loved buds.
For they know that with the little ones they must be parted.
For this is one of many trials they accept with resignation.
For they are inhabitants of a venerable house.
For they realize there is no turning back.

The post “Examination” by Annie Lighthart appeared first on The Poetry Box.

The Great Word Regatta with Shawn Aveningo-Sanders, Michael Schein, Annie Lighthart and Matthew Brouwer

Saturday, July 16^th 7pm

Rose City Book Pub
1329 NE Fremont St.
Portland, OR 97212

Come hear four restive writers bring life to hallowed Portland pub space through their wily and resplendent words. Opened by the briefest of open mics and followed by the pouring of libations. No cover, but please support your venue that so kindly hosts poets and other weirdos at no charge. Vaccination required.

Michael Schein wrote Liquid Perishable Hazardous (2019) (poetry), John Surratt: The Lincoln Assassin Who Got Away (2015) (historical), The Killer Poet’s Guide to Immortality by AB Bard (2012) (hysterical), historical novels Bones Beneath Our Feet (2011); Just Deceits (2005). Schein edited Poets UNiTE! The LiTFUSE Anthology (2015). His poetry appears in many journals and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize three times. Schein is the founder of LiTFUSE Poets’ Workshop (litfuse.us), & has taught at Port Townsend Writers Conference, Write on the Sound, and elsewhere. Spirits inhabit earth and sky. Poetry is everywhere. Write on! michaelschein.com.

Shawn Aveningo-Sanders grew up in Missouri and after a bit of globetrotting finally landed in Portland, Oregon. Her recent chapbook, What She Was Wearing, tells her #metoo story that took 30 years to reveal. Shawn’s work has appeared worldwide in over 160 literary journals and anthologies, including Calyx, Amsterdam Quarterly, American Journal of Poetry, Timberline Review, VoiceCatcher, and Poets Reading the News. She’s a Pushcart nominee, Best of the Net nominee, co-founder of The Poetry Box press, as well as managing editor for The Poeming Pigeon. Shawn is a proud mother of three and shares the creative life with her husband, Robert. (More at RedShoePoet.com and ThePoetryBox.com)

Annie Lighthart is an Oregon writer and teacher who began writing poetry after her first visit to an Oregon old-growth forest. Poems from her books Pax and Iron String have been featured on The Writer’s Almanac and in various anthologies, including How to Love the World and Poetry of Presence. Annie’s work has been turned into music, used in healing and meditation projects in Ireland, England, and New Zealand, and has traveled farther than she has.

Blending music, poetry, wit and wisdom from his tangled poetic journey, Matthew Brouwer weaves together a unique and unforgettable poetry experience that has been charming audiences for over a decade. Bridging the worlds of spoken word and literary poetry, he has performed throughout the US and been featured in numerous literary, visual and performance arts showcases. He has a new chapbook The Gospel According to Matthew which you should purchase before it is buried forever by the sands of obscurity and time.

The post The Great Word Regatta (July 16, 2022) appeared first on The Poetry Box.

Please enjoy today’s selection: “Blaze” by Annie Lighthart, which appears in The Poeming Pigeon: Poems from the Garden:

Blaze

Suddenly the peonies are too much for themselves — heavy-headed,
huge and falling — not spent, but wildly spending
utter color, unfurling perfume, sure and reckless lavish.
May I come through like this someday,
come through to a vastness on my feet and running,
the old cart of thought abandoned on the road,
and love — the heat, the secret way across the border — laying me bare.

The post Poem of the Day (04-24-2018) appeared first on The Poetry Box.