to say that a landscape
can never be clamorous
disregards the wild
hearts within it,
forgets the crows
and casts no winds
an outlook is only
sometimes peaceful,
and mostly uproarious
© Sarah Whiteley
My newest chapbook Wandering Wonderful is now available for pre-order from Finishing Line Press. Pre-orders through March 22nd will have an opportunity to win a canvas print of the cover art. Click for details!
somewhere between heart and home,
the iron in blood sees itself
also in stone, in earth beneath feet
we are as bound to landscape
as are tendons to muscle
as tied to hearth as we are to wander
© Sarah Whiteley
Things have been quiet on the blog-front, I know. I sailed right on past the 9-year anniversary of this blog without taking time out to acknowledge it. But I have been feverishly working on piecing together a full-length manuscript for submission. November saw me buckling down with the goal of writing 60 new drafts of poems (yes, 60!). I didn’t quite make it, but made it as far as 50, which is a huge achievement for me.
I’ll be spending the next couple of months honing these poems, polishing them, probably hating parts of them, and loving them all to pieces. But now that the big push is done with for the moment, I’m hoping to revisit posting to the blog a bit more. It’s always been a great tool to keep me writing!
bare feet on the damp boards of the rain-soaked porch
I try counting how many cigarettes are left
not in the packs between us, leaning on the rail
but in moments left to us in this sacred space
where we learned the measure of our lips
and the direct relation of hands to laughter
no use pouring coffee before it’s been made
this now for now, with you will more than do
© Sarah Whiteley
ebbtide 