VOICEMAIL POEMS - *FALL 2017* Poems by Kimiko Hirota, Austin Beaton, & Kai River Blevins

FALL 2017 Poems by Kimiko Hirota, Austin Beaton, & Kai River Blevins

11/13/17 • 19 min

Our hosts Logen Cure and I.S. Jones review their favs from our Fall 2017 issue! (Get caught up on Fall 2017 here: https://soundcloud.com/voicemailpoems/sets/voicemail-poems-fall-2017) This installment features poems by Kimiko Hirota, Austin Beaton, and Kai River Blevins. Music by TrueKey. (@truekey). >> The deadline to submit to our Winter Issue is December 1st: http://voicemailpoems.org/call >> Help us made more of these by supporting us on Patreon! http://patreon.com/voicemailpoems >> Review us on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/voicemail-poems-.org/id847081003

Previous Episode

"Almond Blossom" by Ellen Webre

I have spent a thousand years picking myself out of the middle of nowhere on an empty highway clutching fistfuls of fireflies to my eyes clawing poppy blossoms across a belly full of rabbits I dripped with peppercorns I salted the earth as if that would make the mud easier to swallow I buried the creatures with a pocket watch and a dead fish and mounds rose up the hills of my body a congregation of sparrows sang like nightingales as if that would bring me peace my ghost is mad Ophelia babbling in swampflower poltergeisting the highways and waiting for the next thud wooden dolls slapped out of my hands brings me walnut shells to curl into like that could keep me safe from waking up again in the cheekbone curve of a boy who does not know the difference between a raven and a writing desk between I’m sorry and have some wild almonds love I picked these myself you’ll have to kiss me to taste them --------------------------------------- SUPPORT US ON PATREON: http://patreon.com/voicemailpoems http://voicemailpoems.org/guidelines http://facebook.com/voicemailpoems http://twitter.com/voicemailpoems http://voicemailpoems.org/thepodcast

Next Episode

"A SHINING EXAMPLE OF HOW AN HONEST, KIND, STRONG, AND RESPONSIBLE MAN LIVES HIS LIFE" by Dana Whtvr

I set down my flaming sword long enough to stare into a hunting trip photo at my Grandfather's memorial. It shows two men, and him between them in a dress and wig-hilarious joke (everyone laughed), "abomination" an Uncle scoffs casual-like now, tells story: "that's the ugliest woman I ever saw" man driving by says to man in passenger seat (everyone laughs). See: sadness and shame felt in my painted toenails hidden in socks, the tie too tight around my neck, clueless compliments about my long hair and hoops. Retell the story a different way: at 10, a buck strung for skinning from the eaves; the droppings he cut out and put in my palm. I can never breathe in church, but this morning I took communion for the first time in 9 years, for the old man-God knows why. Over his grave beside his stillborn first daughter's, I become the hospital where he died-Queen of the Valley (think meanest motherfucker: full crown of antlers on my head, long locks of weeping willow dyed with blood trailing in the wind, time turned back on itself, a naked Eve naming all the animals). Pulling my dress off the hanger, I bear witness: the empty center of the universe like a liver spot; wind in my hair, sun on my bare shoulders; and under the ground, hidden in the urn, his miserable ashes in drag. *Title quoted from the obituary for James E. Fidler published in the Napa Valley Register, 08/28/2017 (http://napavalleyregister.com/lifestyles/announcements/obituaries/james-e-fidler/article_65807aa0-9a66-5a83-a859-8be03d18c1c7.html). --------------------------------------- SUPPORT US ON PATREON: http://patreon.com/voicemailpoems http://voicemailpoems.org/guidelines http://facebook.com/voicemailpoems http://twitter.com/voicemailpoems http://voicemailpoems.org/thepodcast