upcoming grant deadline: 05/15/2024
Having recently returned to writing poetry, after a hiatus of 30 years, I have been working to improve my skills and build a foundation of knowledge about this challenging and inspiring art form. To this end, I am pursuing an MFA in Poetry at Vermont College. This experience has been deeply enriching and is helping me gain a mastery of my craft as well as a profound appreciation for the extraordinary diversity of voices within poetry. I hope one day to add my voice to this community, and through my work, to help people remember what binds us together as humans and connects us to the world.
ALL THAT GLITTERS
On the Bloque de Oro, love steps lightly in lime green
sneakers, flips its hair, never looks back. In the bodegas, behind
plate glass, glittery dreams are stacked. And across the street,
through dusty windows, other displays of dreams gleam back. Between the gas
station and commencement clothing store, you can find Jesus hanging
out by the religious statuary shop. He's somewhere
along the fourteen stations of the cross, looking beat. Someone
has lent him a crutch to get to Hancock and Diamond Streets,
where a mural reminds us of our better selves. Already forgotten
by the corner, where the worn-out house, stuffing exposed,
is being circled by a pack of hungry dogs. At night,
if one is not careful, a dream will be shot down in the street-
if it refuses to cloak its ambition or conceal the glint of its desire.
Sometimes, when it's quiet, you can hear the squall
of a dream being born. Unwanted, belligerent
before it speaks, it kicks against the arms that rock it and howls
at the sun when it tries to jimmy the blinds to offer its bleak blessing.