kingsoftrain

PLEASE check out previous contributor Marisol Baca‘s book, Tremor, here:

https://www.marisolbaca.com/books-publications/

~

Marisol Baca, from volume second of {isacoustic*}:

The Ditch

Uncle Albert left their chihuahua
in the Corrales ditch,
when he came upon her dead.
A little thing like that, and mostly blind,
she had wandered and followed the smell of water;
the tiny dog heard the water even if
the ditch had been dry for years.
But Albert, who had two girls at home waiting,
turned and walked away.

I remember that chihuahua sitting on my cousin’s lap.
Turning her head to the side,
sniffing the thick smell of alfalfa.
Uncle Albert smoked a joint in the backyard,
and I saw hundreds of white sparks fall.

Later, a ditch filled with dead wood and leaves,
the dog lying on her side. My cousin sentinelled
over her like an overgrown thistle.

~

Canto I

Lend me your ear…

~

PLACEMENT

site: https://isacoustic.com
facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Isacoustic-192435501303710/
twitter: https://twitter.com/isacousticVOL?lang=en
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isacousticvol/

~

SAYING

reflection on Natalie Eilbert’s Indictus:
https://isacoustic.com/2018/03/04/indictus-poems-natalie-eilbert/

~

SAID

i.

Crystal Stone

Look closer: even by freezing waters,
lice make a hat on the young seal’s head. – {from} How to Prevent Ice Crystal Formation in Your Heart

https://isacoustic.com/2018/03/16/person-crystal-stone-seven-poems/

ii.

Rishitha Shetty

My mother’s prayer is the act
of gathering leaves-
the shape of each syllable measured out like love,
like the first bite of fish after monsoon. – {from} Prayersong

https://isacoustic.com/2018/03/15/person-rishitha-shetty-three-poems/

iii.

Sara Moore Wagner

A WAKING IMAGE, AS GRETEL

The rain spills in on us as we sleep
in the backyard, tented. My brother wakes
with a face cotton-soft, button-eyed, cuts
into me as our grandmother
does the most bruised tomatoes.
Says run, but we wait:
sloshing, mermaiding, our hair
and the flowers, the candy
wrappers flood into the yard,
vine…

thru March 19th, Lulu is offering 10% off all print books AND free mail shipping (or 50% off ground shipping) with coupon code of BOOKSHIP18

mine, self-published, are here:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/acolyteroad

*book previews on-site are books entire. will send free hard copies to any interested in reviewing. free PDF to any requesting. all requests as such can be made to bartonsmock@yahoo.com

~~~~~

some recent poems:

barn musics   ~for Maurice Manning~

as blind
as hair
yeah that’s
your father
spelled
into baiting
hosanna’s
cricket
by a red
a gaslit
mouse

~

starless musics

I drop
down the back
of my brother’s
t-shirt
a wasp
and for years
he has
dry skin.

there are words
our mother said
that we’ve used
to protect her. this day

(to that)
gunshot
means gather
eggs. sleep

is your shepherd’s
prison.

~

devoured musics

map
in dream
what you can
of heaven

be…