Before we get to today's Poetry Friday, here are two events of special interest to poets and poetry fans in the Capital Region...
The Hudson Valley Writers Guild, Trailer Park Quarterly, and Hobo Camp Review are joining forces to present two nights of poetry and spoken word.
These readings will showcase the work of Paula Bomer, Dan Provost, J. Lester Allen, Cord Moreski, John Dorsey, Jason Baldinger, Jason Ryberg, Victor Clevenger, Tony Brewer, Ian Macks, Tohm Bakelas, and Mary Panza.
8 p.m. Friday, July 22
Elixir 16
45 2nd Street, Troy NY 12180, ($10), and at
8 p.m. Saturday, July 23
The Linda
339 Central Ave, Albany, NY 12206 ($10).
“All of us at the Writers Guild are so excited to be working with these great literary journals to bring some of the nation’s most prolific and talented poets and writers to the Capital Region,” said Thom Francis, Hudson Valley Writers Guild Vice President. More at the HVWG site.
Hope to see you at one or both of these poetry readings! Now here's a Friday poem from John Dorsey.
Trailer Park Song, 1988 or Poem for Tish
By John Dorsey
i never knew you
but when we lived in the trailer park
we got countless calls for you
in the summer of 1988
andre held you close to his heart
like a cracked locket
or a spring flower
that never got to bloom
he just wanted you to know that
he cried when my father
told him you died
just so he would stop calling
when we were in the middle
of eating dinner
telling us about how
you slow danced at the prom
the night before he got shipped off
into the hungry mouth of jungle
that swallowed boy like him whole
how you were the one
who pressed his uniform
that morning he left town
how he did his best not to wrinkle it
for weeks after that
eventually giving in
to humidity & the war
inside his heart
but you can't iron out heartbreak
he dreamt about you as news
of the moon landing
came across the radio
he just missed the sound of your voice
calling back to him
out of the past.
By John Dorsey from the book Afterlife Karaoke
John Dorsey lived for several years in Toledo, Ohio. He is the author of several collections of poetry, including Teaching the Dead to Sing: The Outlaw’s Prayer (Rose of Sharon Press, 2006), Sodomy is a City in New Jersey (American Mettle Books, 2010), Tombstone Factory (Epic Rites Press, 2013), Appalachian Frankenstein (GTK Press, 2015) Being the Fire (Tangerine Press, 2016), Shoot the Messenger (Red Flag Poetry, 2017), Your Daughter’s Country (Blue Horse Press, 2019), Which Way to the River: Selected Poems 2016-2020 (OAC Books, 2020), Afterlife Karaoke (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2021) and Sundown at the Redneck Carnival (Spartan Press, 2022).
His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and the Stanley Hanks Memorial Poetry Prize. He was the winner of the 2019 Terri Award given out at the Poetry Rendezvous.
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