New Poetry: The Destruction Loops (Part 3)

3

in my nightstand, talismans
for each disaster:

     sweet grass from a cherokee lover

     my fifth grade teacher's
     handwriting, days before her death

     blackened bundle of sage, saint
     michael, stolen wiccan's compact.

turning in my hand like liars'
dice
     turning thrum
     of placebo.  i am

     a beggar when it comes
     to life. i take

     whatever rope of vapors
     comes my way.

New Poetry: The Destruction Loops (Parts 1 & 2)

1

point on a circle
where                quick breath meets
regret

same point often
labeled
            youth

to name is
                 to own
but i do not call
such overlap
                    //sexiness of fouling up//

mine

just graphite       and smudge

   exquisite, enjoyed rotation
       around a wrong axis

2  (for my grandfather)

the tug of cattled acres, grave-
    yard of hasty dogs yanked

from beneath you -
    a clown's eventual chef d'oeuvre

   that leaves cutlery & oranged
   bowls at attention

   while the table beneath shivers

    exposed.

your new frontier: chemicals,
   corrugated halls, a first

taste of stillness - still
  though, your waking

  in the dark. still your reaching
  hand, its landing on the milk pail.

sorting through your workshop,
violation swelling in my mouth

like a bitten tongue,
     i find my remnants - poem -
     the one that watched
     you mourn a season

     of lost tobacco.

then,  as now, your musical pulse.
your eyes as some deft

    other starts to tug.

Review & Giveaway: "The House on Prospect" by Bernadette Walsh

Title: The House on Prospect
Author: Bernadette Walsh
Publisher: Echelon Press
Date Published: January 11, 2012
Pages: 168

How I Heard About It: I was provided a review copy of this book via Reading Addiction Blog Tours and happily agreed to host a review and giveaway here at Conceptual Reception.

Summary (Provided by RABT):

Ellen Murphy spent her childhood in an idyllic house by the sea. A house surrounded by flower filled gardens and a white picket fence. A house she fled at eighteen. A house full of secrets.

  

When Ellen’s mother Rose, an ex-nun, is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Ellen reluctantly returns home to care for her and uncovers a clue to the one secret that has haunted Ellen all her life: the identity of her father.  But that is just one of the many secrets hidden behind the beautiful facade of the house on Prospect Road. Ellen discovers the high price both her mother and her Irish grandmother paid for the house on Prospect and she realizes that her meek mother is more of stranger to her than her absent father.

Things I Think: "The House on Prospect" is really very charming and touching, two things I definitely appreciated after finishing the super-dark "Narcopolis" this weekend.  Following multiple generations of one family's individualistic, powerful women, the author weaves in elements of history (World War II is crucial), religion (defecting nuns!), and most importantly, the mechanics of a troubled family unit.

Each female character has an incredibly unique, vibrant voice and thus spins the family saga from a slightly different angel. The culmination is a decidedly fascinating history of relationships, tainted with abusive secrets in places and yet tinged with passionate romance in others.  While the writing could use a scrub-down from the copy-editing perspective (verb tenses fluctuate in ways that obfuscate the story arc), the narrative itself can draw in a reader willing to be moved by some good old-fashioned family conundrums.

To learn more about this book and it's author, check out the following links:

Website  |   Blog  |   Twitter  |  Facebook

And now, for the giveaway! To win a copy of "The House on Prospect" for your e-reader, simply leave a comment below and let me know what you're reading these days.  Follow my blog on Google Friend Connect or BlogLovin' for an extra entry.