by Sixfold
It’s been some time since they were said in English
It’s been some time since they were meant.
A child told to count windmills on her way to boarding school
A child about to be abandoned
Windmills and hair, windmills blowing hair
Watermelon carved and eaten
with plastic spoons because knives are forbidden
A paedophile uncle and a new pink A-cup bra
Raindrops on car windows
Imprisoned in a car
A game that gives identities and voices to each raindrop
Clusters of raindrops that join and separate
Massive drops that steamroll diagonally
separating families, drawing baby raindrops from their mummies
How they cried!
I can still hear their distraught voices
Femaleness
There comes a time when you can look a man in the face
While he’s doing something else, and instead of being
dazzled, by his phenomenal good looks…
nothing. You can live without him.
His track pants are too daggy
his toenails too long
his ears too greasy
his nose too bulbous
his penis too crooked
his glasses too big
It’s those glasses and the way
he looks fixedly at the computer screen
It’s the way men relate better to computers than women
It’s their onanism (which is just a fancy word for masturbation)
which yes we all do, of course, but for me it’s about sailing higher, higher
above apricot coloured clouds. For them it’s about believing women exist only for them. Oh! Let me withdraw further, further into my inner worlds…
Let me see all colours behind my eyelids, especially bright green
Let me be a retreating dot in an enormous swimming
universe. Let me be cradled, floating in space.
Sustain me now. Sustain me now.
Mastitis
Cinderella is on the stairs in a flurry. My story
hasn’t been written yet. Nothing resolves.
Scientist are on the verge of a breakthrough
that may save us by destroying another world.
Metal drums full of fire. A dispersion of men in overalls
leaping for joy when they find the key, scissor kicks in the sky.
A knowing god looks down upon our treetops and sighs.
The time is now, it’s running out, ça ira, ça ira,
I tingle. Nerves twinge. Something terrible may still happen.
My breasts are being milked for yet another hour
and I shiver endlessly in a feverish infected delirium.
Boys cavort and ignore me. They’re used to this.
Downstairs you grizzle and mutter in your usual way.
Something smashes in a doorway. More curses.
Flat on the bed, making a leap fifteen years back in time
I am left with an upturned palm full of sperm and a decision to make.
Contributor Notes
Born in 1926, Robert Barasch grew up in Alabama, moved to New York in 1952, and to Vermont in 1970 with his wife and three children. He worked as a newspaper editor and reporter before getting a PhD in clinical psychology, retiring in 1996 and writing poetry and fiction since that time. His poems have been published in several journals and he recently published a novel, Parallel Play.
Michael Berkowitz was born in Michigan, raised in Maryland, and earned his degree in Classical Latin and Greek from Oberlin College. He now lives in Somerville, Massachusetts where he makes his living as a web developer and occasional musician while studying poetry and circus arts. He is delighted to have his poems debut in Sixfold.
Mariah Blankenship received a Bachelors in English from Radford University and a Masters of Education. She currently teaches Creative Writing and English in Virginia where she lives with her tiny Yorkie and bearded boyfriend. She likes to read depressing feminist poetry and transcendental literature while watching trash reality television and war movies.
Michael Brokos earned his MFA in 2012 from Boston University, where he received the Hurley Award. He has also received a work-study scholarship from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and his work appears in Hobart, Salamander, and elsewhere. He lives in Baltimore.
Paul R. Davis lives in central New York State with his wife, parrots and cats Now retired, he enjoys operating model trains, philately, gardening, and preparing meals with his wife. His work has been published in Latitudes, Comstock Review, Comrades, Hot Metal Press, Georgian Blue Poetry Anthology, The Externalist, Centrifugal Eye, and others. He believes in a simple poetic philosophy: to wit, the joy of expression, the necessity of communication.
Lisa DeSiro was among the featured poets of the Tupelo Press 30/30 Project in 2013. Her poems have appeared in Commonthought Magazine, Mezzo Cammin, and Poetpourri (now The Comstock Review), and have been used as texts for acclaimed musical compositions. In addition to her MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University, she has degrees in music and is an accomplished classical pianist. She is also Editorial & Production Assistant for C.P.E. Bach: The Complete Works.
Roger Desy For careers I taught literature and creative writing and edited technical manuals. My plan was to write. The past few years I’ve come back to short lyrics, where I began and continue to find myself. Poems are in Cider Press Review, Kenyon Review, Mid-American Review, The Pinch, Poet Lore, and other journals. Early mornings it’s only the poem.
Catherine Dierker studied English at George Washington University in Washington, DC and went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Anglo-Irish Literature from University College Dublin in Dublin, Ireland. Her master’s thesis was titled: “Joyce, Kierkegaard and Community.” Catherine lives and writes in Chicago, IL. She is currently applying for admission to law school.
William Doreski lives in Peterborough, New Hampshire, and teaches at Keene State College. His most recent book of poetry is The Suburbs of Atlantis (2013). He has published three critical studies, including Robert Lowell’s Shifting Colors. His essays, poetry, fiction, and reviews have appeared in many journals, including Massachusetts Review, Atlanta Review, Notre Dame Review, The Alembic, New England Quarterly, Worcester Review, Harvard Review, Modern Philology, Antioch Review, and Natural Bridge.
R. G. Evans’s poems, fiction and reviews have appeared in publications such as Rattle, The Literary Review, Paterson Literary Review, and Weird Tales. His original music, including the song, “The Crows of Paterson,” was featured in the 2012 documentary film All That Lies Between Us. His first book of poetry, Overtipping the Ferryman, will be published in 2014 by Kelsay Books.
Born in San Francisco, raised in Wyoming, Mike Fleming set out on a long, winding path: undergraduate work at Princeton, teaching English in refugee camps in Thailand, a graduate degree from Oxford, teaching high-school mathematics in Swaziland, work as a carpenter, hospice volunteer, and college composition teacher in California, living as a writer and editor in New York, New Hampshire, and now Brattleboro, Vermont. You can see more of Fleming’s work at www.dutchgirl.com/foxpaws
John Glowney has practiced commercial litigation with a large Pacific Northwest law firm, Stoel Rives LLP, for over 30 years. He is a past winner of several Hopwood Awards at the University of Michigan, a Pushcart Prize, Poetry Northwest’s Richard Hugo Prize, and the Poetry Society of America’s Robert H. Winner Memorial Award. He’s heard all the lawyer jokes and has repeated most of them. He lives in Seattle.
Originally from Kansas, Anne Graue lives, writes, and teaches online from her home in New York’s Hudson Valley. Her poems have appeared in Paradigm, Compass Rose, Sixfold Journal (May, 2013), and The 5-2: Crime Poetry Weekly. She was a finalist for the Patricia Dobler Poetry Award for 2013. She is a reviewer for NewPages.com.
Henry Graziano Unless one would count a sing
le effort my freshman year in college many decades ago, I am unpublished. I have spent most my years as a high school teacher, business owner, and traveler on the edges of Midwestern society. I am writing now after those many years of merely reading the work of others.
Stephanie L. Harper resides with her husband and two children in the Portland, OR, metro area, where she pursues (among countless other interests) the following avocations: Home Schooling Parent; Poet and Essayist; 2-D Visual Artist; Soccer Player; and Promoter (together, with like-minded others) of social justice and of fostering the advancement and welfare of our collective human psyche. Stephanie aspires to become a positive literary voice in the global community.
Karen Hoy lives in Bradford-on-Avon in England and has a Creative Writing Diploma from Bristol University. Her poetry has appeared in journals and anthologies including Another Country: Haiku Poetry from Wales (Gomer) and My Mother Threw Knives (Second Light Publications). Karen works as a Development Producer in international TV documentaries. She also helps at With Words, co-designing writing courses. For each “difficult” poem, Karen aims to write at least one joyful one.
Philip Jackey, a Midwest poet, was born and raised in South Bend, Indiana. His work is heavily influenced by human trial and tribulations, as he strives to portray realism in everyday life. He currently resides in Elkhart, Indiana, with wife Stephanie, two boys, and a brand new beautiful baby girl. His work has appeared in journals such as Torrid Literature, The Write Place at the Write Time, Sundog Lit, and Agave Magazine.
Christopher Jelley was born in Welwyn Garden City, England. Emigrating to Atlanta in 1968, he studied journalism at Georgia State University. Jelley has written scripts for instructional and travel videos, and commercials. His work most recently appeared in The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume V: Georgia.
Mike Lythgoe retired as an Air Force Officer before earning an MFA from Bennington College. He has lived and worked in Washington, DC, Syracuse, NY, Miami, Key West, Izmir, Turkey, Madrid, Spain, and London, UK. His collection, Holy Week, is available as an e-book; his chapbook, Brass, won the Kinloch Rivers contest in 2006. Recent credits include Windhover, Santa Fe Review, Cairn: St. Andrews Review, Blue Streak, Petigru Review, Innissfree, Pea River, Christianity & Literature, and Sixfold. He lives in Aiken, SC.
Rande Mack I live in Manhattan, Montana. I weatherize low-income housing for a non profit. I write poetry to keep the lights on inside my head. Occasionally a poem or two flicker in a small publication somewhere. “wild life” is a sample of even more wild life.
Alysse Kathleen McCanna grew up in Wisconsin and studied Art History at Smith College. After graduation she moved to sunny Colorado and resides between the mountains and the plains. Alysse works for Colorado State University in Pueblo and is an MFA candidate at Bennington College.
Michal Mechlovitz is a Brooklyn-based classical singer. A graduate of the Boston Conservatory, Michal served as Editor and President of the Boston Conservatory’s literary publication, The Garden. She has returned to her native Brooklyn to further her singing and writing pursuits. She loves sundresses and iced coffee.
Peter Nash has been practicing medicine for forty years in Northern California. He writes most mornings, occasionally helps his wife in the garden, boards two old mares, and wanders along the Mattole River with his dog Quigley. He has been published in numerous journals and anthologies; his chapbook Tracks won the 2007 Hot Metal Press chapbook contest and his book, Coyote Bush: Poems From The Lost Coast, was the winner of the 2012 Off the Grid Poetry Prize.
Andrea Jurjevic O’Rourke’s poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in The Missouri Review, Harpur Palate, The Rag, Barrelhouse, Raleigh Review, Verse Wisconsin, and elsewhere. She is the 2013 Robinson Jeffers Tor Prize Winner. A native of Croatia, she lives in Atlanta now, where she translates, paints (oils on cotton paper and acrylics on canvas) and attends the MFA program at Georgia State University.
Jennifer Popoli I grew up in Canberra and during adolescence wrote a lot of poetry, prose and unfinished novels and participated in the local writers community. At age seventeen, I met my husband and moved to Sydney. I gave birth to my first son at age eighteen and went on to have five children, then recommenced my degree in Spanish and Italian. Recently, my computer broke; I lost everything. This inspired me to begin writing prolifically again.
Susan Marie Powers I live in the Connecticut woods with my husband, son, cat, dog, and ten chickens. I have a doctorate in psychology and teach psychology at Woodstock Academy in northeastern Connecticut where my students make me smile every day. As for writing, I have loved writing since I was a small child. I have a chapbook titled Break the Spell, and I have also published some nonfiction articles in psychology journals.
Frederick L. Shiels, PhD, has taught at Mercy College since 1977. He has been an occasional poet for forty years and has written and published poetry in the Hudson River Anthology, Wicker’s Creek, and The New Verse News. He teaches diplomacy, research, and self-presentation in classes on International Organizations, International Relations, American Foreign Policy and US history and politics.
A native of North Dakota, Richard Sime moved to New York City in 1966 to work on a doctorate degree but soon drifted into publishing. He returned to school later, earning an MFA in fiction writing in 1994. Eventually he turned his attention to poetry, and his poems have appeared in The New Republic, Barrow Street, Salamander, American Arts Quarterly, Provincetown Arts, and Passager. He lives in the Bronx, NY.
A graduate of the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast MFA Poetry Program, David Sloan teaches in Maine’s only Waldorf high school. He is the author of two books on teaching. His debut poetry collection, The Irresistible In-Between, was published by Deerbrook Editions in 2013. His poetry has appeared in The Broome Review, The Café Review, Innisfree, The Naugatuck River Review, Poetry Quarterly and Passager, among others. He received the 2012 Betsy Sholl and Maine Literary awards, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Katherine Smith’s poems and fiction have appeared in a number of journals, among them Mezzo Cammin, Unsplendid, Measure, Fiction International, Gargoyle, Ploughshares, The Journal of the Motherhood Initiative, Shenandoah, The Southern Review, Atlanta Review, and Appalachian Heritage. Her first book, Argument by Design (Washington Writers’ Publishing House), appeared in 2003. She teaches at Montgomery College in Maryland.
A psychic on the Long Island Railroad once told Alexandra Smyth she was “going to be like Sylvia Plath, but you know, without the whole suicide thing.” She will earn her MFA in Creative Writing from The City College of New York in February 2014. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Word Riot, PoetsArtists, and District Lines, among others. She is the 2013 recipient of the Jerome Lowell Dejur award in poetry.
Gary Sokolow has an aging MFA (Brooklyn College) and has been published in Blood Lotus Journal, Up the Staircase, and Chantarelle’s Notebook.
John Wentworth received his MFA from the University of Michigan in 1991. That was a long time ago. Look for his upcoming novel in a box in an attic near you.