Ghost Poetry Show
HARK!
I hear … a spirit …
Poe-tic one, at that.
Ghosts and poetry have been going together since Edgar Allan mashed prepositions and apparitions.
Be silent in that solitude,
Which is not loneliness—for then
The spirits of the dead who stood
In life before thee are again…
(from “Spirits of the Dead”)
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, with “Haunted Houses,” also rhymed on the world-just-beyond:
There are more guests at table than the hosts
Invited; the illuminated hall
Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts,
As silent as the pictures on the wall…
(Good link to 10 ghostly poems)
And the very title of Lucie Brock-Broido’s 1997 poem is haunting: “How Can It Be I Am No Longer I”
Winter was the ravaging in the scarified
Ghost garden, a freak of letters crossing down a rare…
So, this makes sense: Ghost Poetry Show.
The new group hosts a poetry slam at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29 – at the excellent Film Bar, of all places. This show is sold out, so if you don’t already have a ticket, you’ll have to sit this out and miss the likes of Landry Ntaryamira, pondering
“When did we stop wishing on dandelion seeds/
Blowing, lions courage, on monarch butterfly wings”
(“Surfs Up”)
And Cylie Lawrence, daggering
“Thinking about you is so much easier
In metaphors and similes
Any word play to distance you
From my current reality”
(“Splinter”)
Keep an eye on Ghost Poetry Show on Instagram and/or on Facebook.
From ghostly to space poetry:
Dr. Sian Proctor, a faculty member at South Mountain Community College, took off big time, launching into orbit on Space X’s Inspiration 4.
Proctor read a poem by Phoenix College student Magdaleno Perez (fittingly, “Inspiration”) in space.
Proctor started an online poetry/art competition, asking for space-inspired work.
Among the winners (complete list):
"Launch," by Gateway Community College student Karen Fitzsimons:
I’m leaving for Mars
I’ve got to get out,
You say I belong here
Yet I’m filled with doubt.
I try to fit in
I’ve tried to sit tight,
But I’m giving up
And I’m leaving tonight.