Monday, May 9, 2016 at 7:30 PM
SPC at 1719 25th Street
Host: Emmanuel Sigauke
Marcene Gandolfo’s debut book, Angles of Departure (Cherry Grove Collections, 2014), won Foreword Reviews’ Silver Book Award in Poetry. Her poems have been published widely in literary journals, including Poet Lore, Bellingham Review, Bayou, DMQ Review, and Paterson Literary Review. She has taught writing and literature at several northern California colleges and universities.
Circle with Two Lines from Job
When my mother broke the gold-veined mirror
we knew what it meant
though she wouldn’t let me speak it, Seven years
bad luck, seven years.
We drew open the curtain, kissed the shadows
that led us through a mist
which made us shiver. For years glass
resounded, a broken clock chime
striking, but then my body felt a fever
breaking, triumphant sweat
at the temple. The priests taught us to sing,
Who can discover
the face of his garment? Who can open
the doors of his face?
We chanted our way to a labyrinth. At last
a gate opened
to a field of ripe wheat. I knew it would lead us
back to where we began.
Today my mother kneels down, lays her ear
against the cracked earth
and says she hears singing.
—From Fifth Wednesday Journal
Circle with Two Lines from Job
When my mother broke the gold-veined mirror
we knew what it meant
though she wouldn’t let me speak it, Seven years
bad luck, seven years.
We drew open the curtain, kissed the shadows
that led us through a mist
which made us shiver. For years glass
resounded, a broken clock chime
striking, but then my body felt a fever
breaking, triumphant sweat
at the temple. The priests taught us to sing,
Who can discover
the face of his garment? Who can open
the doors of his face?
We chanted our way to a labyrinth. At last
a gate opened
to a field of ripe wheat. I knew it would lead us
back to where we began.
Today my mother kneels down, lays her ear
against the cracked earth
and says she hears singing.
—From Fifth Wednesday Journal
__________________________________________________________
Shawn Pittard is the author of two slender volumes of poetry: Standing in the River, which was the winner of Tebot Bach’s 2010 Clockwise Chapbook Competition, and These Rivers from Rattlesnake Press. His screenplay, The Crossing, is in the hands of Zero Gravity Management in Los Angeles. On Thursday nights, Shawn facilitates the Veterans’ Voices Writers’ Workshop in Placerville—generously supported by the El Dorado Arts Council and Poets & Writers Magazine. By day, he is an environmental planner for the California Energy Commission.
WHY WE’RE HERE
Our father squints through trifocals,
searches for the eye of a fishhook.
Yellow goat horns ripple in a blue tattoo
across the tendons of my brother’s forearm.
I catch myself humming a song
from my childhood religion.
We say we’re here
to fish backcountry streams.
A father. Two prodigal sons.
Sorting gear and drinking coffee
on the tailgate of a pickup.
Listening for gaps in the silence.
“Why We’re Here” was first published in Spillway, A Poetry Magazine.
