Black Mountain Blog
We Heard Nothing, by Ikeogu Oke
Posted on September 17, 2019
We heard nothing until we walked the labyrinths And came to the path of thunder, and heard his voice crack The clouds, trailing a forked tongue of lightning, A rainbow of words, resplendent and mysterious, Cascading on its curved path Yet we heard so much Even as we heard nothing. Did we not hear because […]
Read MoreThe 64, Best Poets of the Year,
Posted on September 14, 2019
https://www.ebay.com/itm/The-64-Best-Poets-of-the-Year-6×9-trade-paperback-162-pages-Black-Mtn-Press/352790347452?hash=item5223f17ebc:g:QUEAAOSwpVxdfRIF The 64 Best poets of the year is out! Congratulations to the 64 writers that were selected this year. Submissions are open for next year’s edition. Enter at: https://thehalcyone.submittable.com/submit You can also apply for a writer-in-residence award, Chapbook Contest, Literary Magazines and more!
Read MoreLorenzo Dow under My Daylilies, by John Surowiecki
Posted on September 12, 2019
I. CRAZY DOW He was the most famous preacher of his time (his books had thousands more readers than his poem ever will). Before my garden was a garden, when it was just dirt and moss, it was saturated with the desperate piss of camp- meeting-goers, his followers and fools, filling our valley like a […]
Read MoreSalvage Expedition, by Elizabeth Buttimer
Posted on September 11, 2019
Salvage Expedition By Elizabeth Buttimer Walking through pull-a-part I see rusted monuments to winding roads and miles of interstate highways. Powerful lines of muscle cars petroleum sanctuaries, speed possessed sports cars spacious sedans and memories of family vacations and rainbow sherbet. Innocuous vans, beige and invisible who once sported booster seats, and Cheetos on […]
Read MoreOrange Grove Haul-Over 1847, by Elizabeth Buttimer
Posted on September 11, 2019
Orange Grove Haul-Over 1847 By Elizabeth Buttimer Hidden from view in the bend of the water, the most distant spot on my journey so far, at the haul-over point. I didn’t see the impasse until right upon it. In search of new waters, I lift my boat carrying it across dry land pulling and […]
Read MoreAilanthus after Ovid, by David Hopes
Posted on September 5, 2019
Ailanthus after Ovid By David Hopes 1 The power of rosemary is to recall. The power of vervain is to bind. By the power of ailanthus, tree-of-heaven, your dead wake dancing when you dance, proud or timid you cannot tell, for dancing takes them, unrepentant, beautiful at last in time. 2 Light shines […]
Read MoreConvolvulus, by David Hopes
Posted on September 5, 2019
Convolvulus By David Hopes The white convolvulus conquers everything in the vacant lot. What were separate things- a wheelbarrow, maybe, a crate, a big air conditioning unit- stand glazed over, blended; made supports, uniformly emerald, allowing the emerald either to rise up or to subside into the shade, rougher than any sea, though silent. […]
Read MoreInitiate, by Grace Grafton
Posted on September 4, 2019
Initiate By Grace Grafton Carrying the bundle of lore on her back, remembering the skeleton’s advice (how colorful seemed the skull how artistically smiled the teeth) she’s on her way through the narrow pass. The trees hang over, the skeleton says ‘Burrow,’ the lore whispers ‘Peek.’ She spies her way through (how heavy is […]
Read MoreLearning to Spell, by Grace Grafton
Posted on September 4, 2019
Learning to Spell By Grace Grafton The story smoldering, how many years, in the mind’s purse? Go back into memory’s skein. Maybe pre-memory, before the grasses separated themselves from one another and you could run through their jaunty forms. Or was it you who was jaunty? Was that when you loved dogs? Talisman of […]
Read MoreFoldable Altar, by Jacqueline Berger
Posted on September 3, 2019
Foldable Altar By Jacqueline Berger When the fisherman’s hand caught as he flung his net into the dark water, night fishing for herring, he tumbled overboard and didn’t know int he cold black which direction was up and which would drive him further into the deep. The body is saline as the sea, but […]
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