For fifteen years this lemon tree has bloomed
And offered up her fruit; our little maiden
Who sweeps the walk, housekeeper of the soil.
Her headdress in the wintertime is laden
With branches that bear golden offerings.
She’s our enchanted one, with perfect limbs
Producing flowers in the springtime. Her
Exquisite emerald leaves evoke soft hymns
From sparrows on the trellis. Daughter, bound
Into [...]
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Another of Carla Martin-Wood’s photos. Feast your eyes.
In Spring she lays her winter buckskin by,
bathes her brown skin in gentle rains
then dons a robe of filmy green.
From a hidden place in the earth
she brings her cache of jewels;
slips circlets of golden poppies round her arms,
drapes turquoise lupine about her neck,
anoints herself with scent of evening primrose,
white silver in the moonlight.
Wind, smitten by [...]
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Another of Carla Martin-Wood’s pictures that are worth a thousand words.
Deep in the sugar-blossomed orchard
spring catches in the throat of each bloom
pink with nectar promises
heavy with buzz of bees
dreaming honey-laden fruit to come
this ancient cherry tree
beckons with shade
a dusty wanderer who
turns from roadside Jiffy Mart
leaves billboard clutter
and afternoon sales calls behind
climbs the paint-peeled fence
that separates this holy of holies
from hum and drum of market-
driven life
to [...]
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Carla Martin-Wood has graciously provided stunning photos to brighten up WIZ during the Spring Poetry Runoff. Enjoy.
To read Carla’s bio and poetry published on WIZ, go here, here, and here.
This is a rather wretched place,
All things considered:
More paradox than paradise;
A poky little patch of dust and scrub
Now parched, now drowned,
Shaken and, as often, stirred;
A heaven gone to ground,
Ground gone to seed,
Thorn- and thistle-crowned
And for the very birds—
The dove, the hardy thrush,
The brown chat with his melancholy word.
It’s an abated wish,
This dense and dropping orb,
A [...]
First, Torrey House Press, which recently sponsored a contest for nature-themed fiction focused on the Colorado Plateau, is sponsoring also a creative literary nonfiction contest. Torrey House calls for nonfiction that shows their judges “the power of the Colorado Plateau.” The deadline is May 21. Essays can be long, up to 10,000 words. Entry fee [...]
Night falls,
then recedes,
mourning sleepless darkness.
“Tempt me not,” saith the Lord God.
The spire’s skeleton reaching upward like a plea for shielding.
May is a slight way,
April an end to Chillihuani
March a crimson memory,
February a bursting crag,
and January a duality of whiteness.
Morning rises,
then proceeds,
mourning spiritual atrophy.
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Tod Robbins was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and now lives in [...]
The air is a-buzz with wings
bird to butterfly
bee to dragonfly
flit, fly and flutter by
cherry trees lifting petticoats to heaven
full-blossomed defiance
caught mid-cartwheel
kicking up chaos
in can-can regalia
long-limbed show-offs
in ruffles and bloomers
late and early
daffodils and Japanese magnolia
crocus and iris and tulips cover places
old winter (that cold-handed lover)
has relinquished at last
bright spindled forsythia
lilies and redbud
double flowering peach
too much is [...]