A Statement From The Weekly Project Verse Judges

Project Verse Contestants,

The only rules in print are the rules you agreed to abide by when you applied to participate in Project Verse.

Is the collective work of each contestant important?

One of the prizes of Project Verse is a chapbook deal with two guaranteed book reviews in two fine publications. The poems from the competition will help create and shape the Project Verse winner's chapbook. YES, the collective work of each poet is extremely important. Just like on Project Runway, especially toward the end of the competition, the body of work throughout the competition becomes more important in determining which of the lowest ranked contestants each week will go home. As we move into the last half of Project Verse, overall performance will play a larger factor in which of two lowest ranked competitors that week goes on permanent caesura. This shouldn't surprise you.

Keep up the good work,
The Weekly Project Verse Judges

Beth Gylys on The Joe Milford Poetry Show

Click here to listen to Beth Gyly's interview/reading on the Joe Milford Poetry Show. Beth and Joe won't disappoint you!

Week 1: Meet the Weekly Judges

MEET PROJECT VERSE'S WEEKLY JUDGES:

Beth Gylys: Beth is a professor at Georgia State University and the author of Bodies That Hum (winner of Gerald Cable First Book Award) and Spot in the Book (winner of the Ohio State University Press The Journal Award in Poetry). She is widely published in such journals as the Paris Review, The Southern Review, The Kenyon Review, The New Republic, Antioch Review, Columbia Review, Limp Wrist and many others! Click here to check out a poetry sampler by Beth, which includes a poem that landed Beth in Drury's Poetry Dictionary.




Dana Guthrie Martin: Dana maintains an interesting and entertaining blog titled My Gorgeous Somewhere, and she co-maintains, with Nathan Moore, a blog titled Mutating the Signature. She is the creator of Read Write Poem, and her work has been published or is forthcoming in Blood Orange Review, A Handful of Stones, Fence, Knockout, Ouroboros Review, qarrtsiluni, and many more mags! Take a moment to check out her project titled Shore Tags.





Dustin Brookshire: Dustin is the founder of Project Verse, and he hopes you'll take a moment to Tweet about the competition and link it on your Facebook page. He is also the founder of Limp Wrist, an online magazine with queer sensibility, and Quarrel, a blog that aims to take readers on the journey of revision. He is currently seeking submissions for Queens of Poetry: A Tribute to Bosselaar, Duhamel, Laux, and Wier. Dustin has been interviewed on the Joe Milford Poetry Show, and his work has been published or is forthcoming in Ouroboros Review, qarrtsiluni, Ducts, Subtle Tea, OCHO, David and more.









Starting next week, Beth, Dana, and I will be joined each Wednesday by a guest judge. Project Verse's guest judges range from Pushcart Nominees to Pushcart Winners to NEA fellowship recipients to a Lambda Literary Award winner. Drop by Wednesday of each week to find out the identity of that week's guest judge!





What's at stake in the Project Verse competition
 a contract for a limited edition chapbook published by Limp Wrist
 a weeklong residency at Marilyn Nelson's Soul Mountain Retreat* (for the poet to revise and finish his/her chapbook)
 an interview with Joe Milford of “The Joe Milford Poetry Show”
 a review of the chapbook that will be published in ouroboros review and Limp Wrist
 a year subscription to the Naugatuck River Review
 a copy of Best Gay Poetry 2008

Beth Gylys Event on Wednesday

It is no secret that I adore Beth Gylys. She is an all around sweetheart and my former professor. However, even if these things weren't accurate, I would still adore her for the poetry she writes. So, yes, you must attend this:

On Wednesday evening, April 29th, at 7:30 p.m. in the Kopleff Recital Hall, GSU soprano Sharon Stephenson and tenor Richard Clement, accompanied by pianist Peter Marshall, will be performing "Eight Personal Ads", compositions by internationally acclaimed composer Dan Welcher, lyrics taken from Beth Gylys's book of personal ads Matchbook. There will be a reception afterward. The event is free and open to the public. Please attend and invite your friends!

Project Verse Seeks Applicants!

Can you write under pressure without breaking a sweat?
Always telling friends that writing a crown of heroic sonnets is a cinch?
Do you dream of perfect line breaks?
If you think you’ve got the write moves, I’ve got the poetry competition for you.

Project Verse


Dustin Brookshire, through I Was Born Doing Reference Work in Sin and Limp Wrist, is proud to announce Project Verse, the self-proclaimed “Project Runway” of the poetry world.

Project Verse is a free competition set to be a grueling but fun competition for poets. It’s a 10-week competition, and the winner will be announced week 11. Each Monday, an assignment will be posted in I Was Born Doing Reference Work in Sin. Poets will have to complete and submit the assignment by noon Friday of the same week. The judges will read and score the assignments over the weekend, and the judgment will be posted in I Was Born Doing Reference Work in Sin the following Monday.

Who are the judges? Dustin Brookshire, Beth Gylys, and Dana Guthrie Martin are your weekly judges; however, it wouldn't be fun without a little variety. Each week, except for the first week of the competition, there will be a guest judge. I would give you the list of guest judges, but that wouldn't be any fun either! We have a varied list of guest judges ranging from Pushcart Prize nominees and winners to a Lambda Literary Award recipient to National Endowment for the Arts fellowship recipients.

And a competition wouldn't be complete without a prize! The winner of Project Verse receives the following prize package:
 a contract for a limited edition chapbook published by Limp Wrist
 a weeklong residency at Marilyn Nelson's Soul Mountain Retreat* (for the poet to revise and finish his/her chapbook)
 an interview with Joe Milford of “The Joe Milford Poetry Show”
 a review of the chapbook that will be published in ouroboros review and Limp Wrist
 a year subscription to the Naugatuck River Review
 a copy of Best Gay Poetry 2008
 a copy of the 2008 Squaw Valley Review



How do you apply to compete in Project Verse?
 Write a short bio with a max of 200 words. (Make it personal yet poetic.)
 In 500 words or less, respond to the words of Ellen Bryant Voigt, "It's all a draft until you die."
 Submit a max of 10 unpublished poems, no more than 20 pages total.
 If available, provide links to no more than two sites where your work may be viewed.
 Copy and paste the Rules/Regulations/All That Jazz section on its own page
 "I, *Insert name here*, agree to follow all items listed under the Rules/Regulations/& All That Jazz for Project Verse. I understand that not following these items, at any point during the competition, will result in my being disqualified from Project Verse.
 All requested information should be sent in the order requested above, in one Microsoft Word document, to Dustin Brookshire at dustinvbrookshire@gmail.com by 3/01/09. The subject line of the email should read, "Project Verse: Insert Your Name." Your name and email address must appear on every page of your Microsoft Word document. Numbering your pages will make us smile; however, it won't sway our decision on having you as a contestant.


Rules/Regulations/All That Jazz
 Contestants will be selected from a pool of 15 semi-finalists, which in return will be narrowed down to the 11 Project Verse contestants.
 Contestants may not have published more than one full collection of poetry. (Number of chapbook publications does not matter.)
 Contestants must not have studied with any of the weekly judges in a collegiate setting or be related to any of the weekly judges (by blood, marriage, or love affair).
 Contestants must work solo on the weekly Project Verse assignments. Outside help from friends, family, professors, etc. is strictly prohibited and is cheating. Cheaters will be disqualified from Project Verse and thoroughly gossiped about throughout the blogosphere.
 Contestants must agree not to use any previously written poems for a Project Verse weekly assignment, unless the weekly assignment requests it.
 Contestants must be willing to complete pages two and three from the Soul Mountain Retreat application package. (Click here to see the forms.)
 All written information collected from the application, excluding the information from the Soul Mountain Retreat forms, may be published in I Was Born Doing Reference Work in Sin.
 The winner's chapbook will be published in the Limp Wrist limited edition chapbook series. The chapbook will include, but will not be limited to, the poems the winner wrote during the Project Verse competition. The chapbook must receive approval from Limp Wrist before being published.
 By participating in Project Verse, you agree to acknowledge Project Verse as first publisher in future reprints of books, anthologies, website publications, podcasts, radio, etc. Copyright reverts back to authors upon appearance in the Project Verse competition, which takes place on the I Was Born Doing Reference Work in Sin site.
 While the copyright reverts back to the author upon appearance in the Project Verse competition, Dustin Brookshire in combination with Project Verse and I Was Born Doing Reference Work in Sin, reserve the right to use any poems from the competition to create an anthology in the future.


*Please note: The winner of the competition will be required to arrange transportation to and from Soul Mountain Retreat. The fees of the residency are taken care of by Dustin Brookshire on behalf of I Was Born Doing Reference Work in Sin.

Don't forget about the autographed items on raffle: CLICK HERE FOR INFO ON THE LIMP WRIST SCHOLARSHIP RAFFLE

Update: LIMP WRIST Scholarship/Poetry Contest

Hello Blogosphere:

You might have already received information regarding the Limp Wrist scholarship/poetry contest for LGBT youth; however, there have been a few changes, so please take a moment to read the details portion of this post. I apologize if you fill pestered; however, ever bit of publicity helps make this scholarship a success, so PLEASE, take a moment to share this information via a blog, Myspace, Facebook, and/or email list.

As many of you know, in April 2008, I started Limp Wrist, and I am proud to promote Limp Wrist as an e-zine with queer sensibility. I am also proud to announce that Limp Wrist is offering a small scholarship to a LGBT High School Junior or Senior via a poetry contest. Even more exciting than the small scholarship is that the scholarship recipient wins a spot at the 2009 Juniper Summer Writing Institute. A huge thanks to the talented Dara Wier for making Juniper possible.

DETAILS ON THE POETRY CONTEST
~ NO entry fee required.
~ Student must identify as a member of the LGBT community.
~ Student must be a high school junior or senior for the 2008-2009 school year.
~ Only one poem of no more than 75 lines may be submitted in the body of an email. The poem should be submitted to dustin@limpwristmag.com, and the subject line must read "LW Sholarship" with the student's first and last name.
~ The poem submitted should not be a previously published work or have won a previous contest.
~ The email must include the following statement: "The poem submitted is my own original work and has not been previously published."
~ The submission email must also include the student's name, mailing address, and name of high school attending.
~ All submissions must be received by 1/31/09.

As mentioned above, the winner of the poetry contest will receive $150 and a spot at the 2009 Juniper Summer Writing Institute. Airfare to and from the '09 Juniper Summer Writing Institute is also covered by Limp Wrist.

Dr. Beth Gylys will serve as the inaugural judge. Dr. Gylys's work has been published in numerous magazines/journals (including Limp Wrist), anthologies, and she has received a mention in Drury's POETRY DICTIONARY as well authored two award winning poetry collections: SPOT IN THE DARK and BODIES THAT HUM.

All this isn't possible without out a price-- if anyone is interested in donating please click here for more information on how to make a tax-deductible donation.

Feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns, or comments.


HUGS,
Dustin

Exciting LIMP WRIST News!

Limp Wrist will offer a $150 scholarship via a poetry contest to a high school Senior who identifies as LGBT, and I am happy to announce my mentor and friend, Dr. Beth Gylys, as the has agreed to be our inaugural judge. Beth Gylys has had her work published in numerous journals, anthologies, received a mention in Drury's Poetry Dictionary as well authored two award winning poetry collections: Spot in the Dark and Bodies that Hum.

In addition to the winning poem being published in LW, I am excited to announce a twist to the first annual scholarship. The winner of the scholarship will also win a spot at the 2009 Juniper Summer Writing Institute-- all thanks and praise to the fantastic Dara Wier for believing in LW enough to make this opportunity possible for a lucky youth who happens to identify as LGBT.

Since LW is going to send a lucky senior to Juniper in 2009, we need your help in the fundraising arena. Please click here to see how you can support LW and help make the inaugural scholarship a successful reality.


Rules for Students Entering the Contest:
~ Student must identify as a member of the LGBT community.
~ Student must be a high school senior at the time the poem is submitted.
~ Student must have a teacher submit an email from a school email address verifying that the student is a senior or provide another form of evidence verifying the student's status as a senior.
~ Only one poem of no more than 75 lines may be submitted in the body of an email. The poem should be submitted to dustin@limpwristmag.com, and the subject line must read "LW Sholarship" with the student's first and last name.
~ The poem submitted should not be previously published or have won a previous contest.
~ The student must be willing to attend the 2009 Juniper Summer Writers Institute.
~ The email must include the following statement: "The poem submitted is my own original work and has not been previously published."
~ The submission email must also include the student's name, mailing address, school name, and the name of teacher submitting his/her verification email.
~ All submissions must be received by 12/15/08.

Celebrating National Poetry Month ~ Beth Gylys

The Glass Ball

Across the room, the young man,
son of our host, smokes and hums,
rocking in a chair to the slow
rise and fall of acoustic guitar,
his long hair pulled away from a face
both soft and strong. Almost man,
almost boy, he seems to balance there
to something we can’t see, a
nd from his mouth rise perfect rings,
one after another, through the open window.

We guests watch, talk quietly,
our glasses still half-full of champagne.
This is the moment before someone
rises to take a dish to the sink,
before the first moves to say goodnight.
It’s the moment you would like to keep
safe in a glass ball—the contented
faces blurred by sleep—to shake
and watch the silver bits of confetti
as they glitter dizzyingly down


published in Limp Wrist

Exciting Limp Wrist News....

After my post about the LW non profit fundraising campaign, I received an email from a friend saying she would gladly handle the paperwork to establish LW as a non profit. I am thrilled and thankful.

I'll keep everyone updated as progress is made!

Limp Wrist & Atlanta Pride Sponsor Free Poetry Workshops

FREE POETRY WORKSHOPS

On June 21, 2008, Atlanta Pride is joining forces with Limp Wrist to offer two FREE poetry workshops in honor of Pride month! Both workshops will be 3 hours long; however, one will be targeted to the intermediate/advanced poet while the other will be for the beginning poet.

Beth Gylys will lead the workshop for the intermediate/advanced poet from 10am to 1pm. Gylys is as an associate professor at Georgia State University. Her work has been published in numerous of journals, and she has published two award winning collections of poetry, BODIES THAT HUM and SPOT IN THE DARK.

Beth Gylys has fun with form--her comic postmodern villanelles wrap their
lines around the complexities of modern day relationships. Her poems are full of
sass and surprise. We can all learn a lesson from her--and her work. ~ Denise Duhamel

Dustin Brookshire will lead the workshop for the beginning poet from 2pm to 5pm. Brookshire has been featured at numerous events in the Atlanta area, won awards from two state poetry societies, and currently serves as the editor of Limp Wrist.

Dustin Brookshire is a tell-it-like-it-is poet whose direct, passionate
intensity both charms and captivates. He is a delight. ~ Beth Gylys

To Apply:
Send an email to dustinvbrookshire@gmail.com with two poems pasted in the email and a subject line of "Poetry Workshops." (No attachments will be opened! ) You must include your name, contact number, workshop preference, and a couple of sentences about your poetic "career." All entries must be received by Friday, May 10, 2008, and poets will be notified of a decision by May 31, 2008. Each workshop will be limited to twelve people.

NY State Summer Writers Institute

Well, I didn't win a scholarship to attend the NY State Summer Writers Institute.

I'm disappointed, but I am still thrilled that Dr. Gylys nominated me--- knowing that my mentor believes in me enough to "put me in the fight" is encouraging and means the world to me.

There will be other contest....

NY State Summer Writers Institute

Please, send positive vibes and energy my way!

Dr. Beth Gylys nominated me for a NY State Summer Writers Institute Scholarship. I submitted my application yesterday, and I will find out on March 20, 2008 if I will receive a scholarship. Even if I don't win a scholarship, I won't be too disappointed because I am honored that I was nominated. It means the world to me that I was thought when Dr. G was asked to nominate a student.

Since 2005 to 2007, 58 students received the full scholarships from colleges such as URochester, Temple U, Brown U, Cleveland State, Connecticut College, Stanford U, Sarah Lawrence, Washington U, Wellesley College, Yale U, UMiami, Bennington College, NYU, UMichigan, Boston U, Portland State, and UMaryland. I'd love to be able to slap GSU to the list.

OK... wish me TONS of luck-- I need it! ! !

Limp Wrist Launch Party!

Last night was the Limp Wrist launch party at Outwrite, and it was fantastic event. We started off with a minute silence in memory of Lawrence King. If you haven't heard of Lawrence King read the NY TIMES article that I've linked; then take a moment and Google his name. His story is tragic and needs to be shared.

Laure-Anne Bosselaar was the guest of honor and started off the night. Then I read followed by Collin Kelley and Stacie Boschma. Lisa Allender and Genevieve Lyons rounded out the night-- these talented poets graciously read in place of two other poets. Lisa read for Beth Gylys and Genevieve for Denise Duhamel.

There was such good energy in the bookstore for which I am glad and thankful. The evening went off without a hitch. A dear friend of mine, Greg, took tons of pictures of the event. I'm going to meet in a week or so for a drink and to receive the CD with the pictures. (can't wait!)

I have to give a shout out to Cousin's Bakery for donating cookies for the event as well as Jenny Allen for donating some her tasty Jenny J's Cheese Dip. Please contact me if you'd like more information on Cousin's or Jenny J's.

I give a hearty THANK YOU to Phillip Rafshoon, Outwrite owner. When I contacted Phillip about wanting to do the launch party at Outwrite, there was never a hesitation about making it happen. Phillip is unbelievably supportive to the GLTB community in Atlanta, so stop by Outwrite when you're in the city!

Beth Gylys ~ Limpwrist

Charles Jensen, poet/blogger/full-time cutie, is writing a review of Beth Gylys's MATCHBOOK for the first issue of LIMP WRIST. I am ecstatic that he has agreed to review Beth's work, and she is excited as well. She told she hopes he likes it-- I predict he will. I wouldn't ask him to review MATCHBOOK if I thought he wouldn't like! (No pressure Charlie!)

Since I'm writing about Beth, I guess I'll share one of my favs from her book BODIES THAT HUM. I've probably shared this poem before-- if so, get over it- thanks for your cooperation.


AFTERWARDS

Your desktop PC is well-equipped to handle
every disaster from spilled coffee to a power surge,
which is only one reason I don't understand
how you can just stand there,
puzzling at the toes of your Reebocks,
as if you might think of an apology for yourself
or your lack of courteous love-making practices,
such as kissing me on the neck,
for instance, or taking off your tube socks,
which, after all, usually have holes, and anyway,
you told me you didn't believe in all that shit
about mutuality or marriage, so at least you could stop
curling up your lip like a frazzled Doberman
and fuck like you want to fuck
or leave like you're never coming back.

MATCHBOOK Launch Party!

I am excited to announce that on Friday, September 21, 2007, Beth Gylys is having a launch party for her new chapbook titled MATCHBOOK. It is with ease that I can praise Beth Gylys. As a former student I can attest to the fact she is an amazing professor who has a genuine love of what she does in the classroom. (If that isn't the case she needs an Oscar for her performance!) She is an amazing poet; feel free to read her first chapbook BALLOON HEART or her two full length collections, BODIES THAT HUM and SPOT IN THE DARK, for evidence of her wit, humor, intelligence, and brilliant craft.

I must brag on Beth a little more before I get back to the exciting topic at hand. I keep Beth's BODIES THAT HUM on my desk when writing. It is one of the books I keep in my satchel when I attend conferences. Yes, the book is that good! The Boston Review published a few of Beth's villanelles that can be found in BODIES THAT HUM and David Lehman had this to say about those villanelles:

Beth Gylys has been writing a series of villanelles that test this arduous form
as a vehicle for writing about love, romance, and contemporary life in the
American idiom. She has written more than twenty of these poems to date, and
they are breathtakingly successful in exploring the limits of the form and
applying it to the demands of her own experience. Some of the villanelles are
funny; others are tender, sensual, and filled with high romance; many combine
wit and humor and urban speed in new and exciting ways. In "My Savior in the
Form of a Bus" and "Hard Luck" the apparatus of the villanelle is used toward a
narrative end. "Do Not Dive Head-First" rises beyond the immediate task of
parodying Dylan Thomas, while "Personal" must be the first and only villanelle
on record to combine the qualities of a classified ad with what Norman Mailer
called an "advertisement for myself." Read and enjoy

I digress no more.

MATCHBOOK is a collection of personals written in sonnet form. (Hats off for a collection of sonnets-- I try not to touch a sonnet with a ten foot pen.) Beth delves into all personalities and lifestyles: straight men and women, gay men, lesbians. As if it wouldn't be interesting enough, Beth has spiced up the evening by variety of people reading her poems--- I'm thrilled to be one of the people reading!

Mark your calendar, program it in your PDA, you need to attend the launch party for Beth Gylys's new creation, MATCHBOOK, on 9/21/07 at 7:30pm in the Troy Memorial Library, which is located on the GSU campus.

Attend and see which personal speaks to you. MATCHBOOK has someone for everyone.

Poetry Night at Grass Roots Institute

Tonight was Poetry Night at the Grass Roots Institute, and my first time hosting a poetry reading. Pictures will be coming within the week. Overall, I think we had a decent attendance and a spectacular reading (if I may say so myself). I read some old stuff, some new stuff...... ventured into a painful area, but the writing helps the pain. I was thrilled to be in company with great poets such as Beth Gylys, Jessica Hand, and Kathy Kincer; please read their bios below.

On a special note-- it was an honor to read with my mentor, Bethy Gylys. I keep her book BODIES THAT HUM on my desk and with me when I'm writing. She's an amazing teacher and poet.

I conducted my first raffle to raise funds for my AIDS Walk team, Team Truvy. I sold tickets for an autographed copy of a book by Kim Addonizio, a book donated and autographed by Laure-Anne Bosselaar, and a year subscription to THE CHATTAHOOCHEE REVIEW. We raised $30-- a great start. Before the month is over I will post information how you can participate and win a book autographed by Denise Duhamel, Dorianne Laux, Celicia Woloch, and other great poets.

A big hearty thank you to everyone who attended the reading!


Currently an Associate Professor at Georgia State University, Beth Gylys won the Ohio State University Press Journal Prize for her collection Spot in the Dark (Ohio State UP 2004). Her book Bodies that Hum (1999 Silverfish Review Press) won the Gerald Cable Poetry First Book Award, and her chapbook Balloon Heart won the Quentin R. Howard award (1998 Wind Press). Awarded fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, The University of Cincinnati, and Syracuse University, she has had work published in many journals including Paris Review, Antioch Review, Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, Boston Review, and The Southern Review.

After falling out of an airplane (long story), Jessica D. Hand realized her passion for poetry would, indeed, define her life because as she plummeted with a failing parachute, she was as concerned with the metaphor of the situation as she was with fixing the chute. Jessica (call her Jess) completed two honors B.A.’s (Psychology and Creative Writing) at Carnegie Mellon University. She loved Pittsburgh, but the cold finally drove her back to her native and sunny Georgia. Soon after her return, she was electrocuted (you might call her accident-prone) in her dominant arm, but she keeps writing poetry, even if she has to write it with her toes (that’s an exaggeration—she is learning to write left-handed). She is now in the MFA poetry program at Georgia State University. She is published in Java Monkey Speaks, volume 2, and she was recently a finalist in the Agnes Scott Poetry Competition. Other publications include Toast and the Minnesota review.

K.B. Kincer is in her third year of the graduate program at Georgia State University in creative writing with a concentration in poetry. Originally from Hicksville, N.Y., she has finally lived in the South longer than she lived in the North, but still can’t stomach grits. Her work has appeared in the GSU Review and her poetry won the Agnes Scott Writer’s Festival Contest in 2006. Besides taking and teaching classes at GSU, she hosts Melodically Challenged, a weekly two hour radio show devoted to traditional poetry that features poets reading work from the late nineteenth century through today. It airs Friday mornings from midnight till two on WRAS, 88.5 FM, Georgia State’s 100,000 watt student-run radio station.

E-zine? and Baby Jesus Likes Top Speed

Praise be to baby Jesus--- I am off today. Yes, that's the same baby Jesus who made top speed (see The Contender to understand the reference).

Since receiving the news that ToasterMag will be ending after the next issue, I have been tossing around the idea of starting a bimonthly or quarterly e-zine. For the few months I've worked with ToasterMag, I have enjoyed myself even though it's been a decent amount of work reading through submissions. But, to be honest, I don't know the ins and outs of starting and maintaining an e-zine. Advice anyone? Feel free to post it or email me.


and for baby Jesus, one last Gylys poem:

MY SAVIOR IN THE FORM OF A BUS

"Do you believe in Jesus Christ our Lord?"
An old, balding man was in my face.
He wasn't someone who could be ignored.

I thought he'd go away if I looked bored.
I rolled my eyes and yawned. He kept his place."
Do you believe in Jesus Christ our Lord?"

"I'm Jewish, give it up," I moved toward
the street, but then my heel caught on some ice.
I fell. "You see, He mustn't be ignored."

This guy, I thought, is someone for the ward.
But I was at his feet. "It must be grace,"
he said, held out his hand. "You know the Lord

can work in wondrous ways." He'd struck a chord:
my days in Catholic school, a veil of lace,
these words a priest once said, that I'd ignored:

"He'll come to you, carrying a sword.
And Beth, how will you meet him face to face?"
My bus pulled up just then, thank the Lord,
rescuing me from questions I'd ignored.

~ Beth Gylys
from BODIES THAT HUM, Silverfish Review Press

Work & "Marriage Song"

Work was tiring today. I didn't have my usual patience for the common misconceptions people have about pharmacy-- the biggest one being: pharmacy staffs should give people refills even if a prescription is expired or out of refills. God forbid if your pharmacy staff politely points out that you've had a whole a month to contact your doctor for refills, which would be more efficient than waiting until the day you need the medication to ask you pharmacy staff to contact the doctor and yell at the staff because your doctor didn't respond within your time line.

Ok. Enough of that and more of Beth Gylys, the Poet of the Month for May.

MARRIAGE SONG

Some have affairs. They never stop to think

until they're begging for a second chance.

(We love and learn we sometimes need a drink.)

Impatient with his life, he quipped, "We blink,

we're forty: with wives, kids, retirement plans."

Some have affairs. It isn't what they think.

He saw this woman at the skating rink,

watching their sons play hockey from the stands.

He fought the urge to ask her for a drink.

She wore those stretchy pants, a long faux mink

slid next to him and said, "Hi, my name's Nance."

He wanted her right there. He couldn't think.

They fucked in hotel rooms, designer pink,

drank cheap champagne. He signed her underpants.

They fucked and ordered something else to drink.

His wife broke all the dishes in the sink,

took both the kids and flew first class to France.

Some have affairs--it's never what they think.

We sigh and shake our heads. We have a drink.

~Beth Gylys

from BODIES THAT HUM, Silverfish Review Press

Bad News But More Beth Gylys

Today, I received an email from ToasterMag's editor that he has decided to put ToasterMag on hold. The next issue, the Pride issue, will be the last. Disappointment. I'm feeling loads of disappointment. As I read his lengthy email I understand why he doing what he is doing, and it isn't the end-- just the end of a monthly ezine. At some point there will be something down the road, but I can't really find comfort in that. I've been working hard on developing the creative writing portion of ToasterMag. My latest project was starting an annual contest for ToasterMag-- it was all set to happen, and the talented and freaking awesome poet, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, was going to be the judge. The editor offered to make special provisions for the contest to still happen because he knows how much of my heart I had already poured in, but I don't think I'll take him up on it----- it wouldn't be the same. Oh well, time to find a different way to burn some of my energy.

Now some happiness.....

AFTERWARDS

Your desktop PC is well-equipped to handle
every disaster from spilled coffee to a power surge,
which is only one reason I don't understand
how you can just stand there,
puzzling at the toes of your Reeboks,
as if you might think of an apology for yourself
or your lack of courteous love-making practices,
such as kissing me on the neck,
for instance, or taking off your tube socks,
which, after all, usually have holes, and anyway,
you told me you didn't believe in all that shit
about mutuality of marriage, so at least you could stop
curling your lip like a frazzled Doberman
and fuck like you want to fuck
or leave like you're never coming back.

~ Beth Gylys
from BODIES THAT HUM, Silverfish Review Press

Beth Gylys ~ "Hands Full of Nothing"

I promised two Gylys poems a day, so here it is:

HANDS FULL OF NOTHING

The hotel lobby, a one-legged man
flops down next to me. I'm so tired
I could curl beside the fountain,
Cupid in its center, vomiting green water.
You were just on the phone, saying,
I'd like to kneel down in front of you,
my tongue between your. . . If I were there,
you wouldn't even take me out
to get a sandwich. The one-legged man
makes his living playing bass. His laugh
sounds like a horse. I close my eyes.
I'd like to . . . If I were there, you wouldn't even
meet me for a drink. Why do I call?
Here by nine, I drove through the night,
sunroof open, the sky a pincushion of stars.
To stay awake, I kept reaching up my hand
to grab, one more time, a fistful of wind.

~ Beth Gylys
Spot in the Dark, Ohio State University Press (2004)