October's Poetry Magazine

This time the poems I liked best weren’t selected to be links on the Poetry magazine site but the contents of the magazine were wonderful all around and I urge you to check out the site, read what is linked, and listen to the podcast.

In the meantime, I’ll mention a couple of poems I enjoyed immensely in case you happen to stumble upon a copy if you don’t already have one:

The first poem that really grabbed my eye is titled “Uncouplings” by Craig Arnold. He uses quite a bit of clever wordplay and while we all know “there is no I in teamwork” he also adds “but there is a two maker.” I really like what he comes up with for each word or phrase and they all flow together despite being seemingly unrelated. “the I in relationship/is the heart I slip on/a lithe prison,” and the lines “our listening skills/ are silent killings.” These are much more clever the more you take the time to read them. He turns trite phrases into insightful musings which is a skill I admire. I hope you are able to find it as amusing as I did.

The second poem is “Sad and Alone” by Maurice Manning. He starts out by addressing the reader that the idea of reminiscing is nothing new, but his memories are laid out so beautifully as he travels down memory lane and then brings us back to his present. “…I remember the time I laid/my homemade banjo in the fire/and let it burn. There was nothing else/to burn and the house was cold;…” he goes on to say “I could hear the raindrops plopping up/the buckets and kettles, scattered out/like little ponds around the room.” He describes the sound as music which he will never forget and always love. He explains that “I loved the helpless people I loved./That’s what a little boy will do,/but a grown man will turn it all/to sadness and let it soak his heart…” Those lines would have made a great ending but he proceeds a little further and turns the lines in another direction which also make it a fantastic ending. He brings you back to his beginning and brings about an emotion you nearly forgot about in the course of this relatively short poem. If you get a chance to read it I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.


Thanks always for reading, you may visit the current issue and read or listen by clicking on the link below.
http://www.poetrymagazine.org/

Please stop by tomorrow for more Poems Found by Poet Hound…