JUNE BREAK

Nancy and I are going to be traveling in Africa for most of the month. We start in Johannesburg and then visit Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana on a Safari-style tour. I’ll report on our adventures when we get back. Meanwhile, here are some activities that you can try out during the month if they interest you.

1. This is a poem by Tess Gallagher that I’ve written as prose. Try putting it into lines, then read it aloud to see how well your lines and line breaks work with the voice and the feelings expressed in the poem. In a future Substack I’ll post the original poem as Gallagher wrote it so you can compare it with your version.

BLACK SILK

She was cleaning—there is always that to do—when she found, at the top of the closet, his old silk vest. She called me to look at it, unrolling it carefully like something live might fall out. Then we spread it on the kitchen table and smoothed the wrinkles down, making our hands heavy until its shape against the Formica came back and the little tips that would have pointed to his pockets lay flat. The buttons were all there. I held my arms out and she looped the wide armholes over them. “That’s one thing I never wanted to be,” she said, “a man.” I went to the bathroom to see how I looked in the sheen and sadness. Wind chimes off-key in the alcove. Then her crying so I stood back in the sink-light where the porcelain had been staring. Time to go to her, I thought, with that other mind, and stood still.

2. Take a walk and write a poem based on what you see, hear, and think. To prepare for this project, check out my earlier Substack on “The Walk Poem” (March 16).

3. Get a copy of my recent chapbook “The Nancy Poems” (available at Amazon for $10) and write a short review to post on Amazon or Goodreads.

4. If you’re a recent arrival at this site, go back and read some of the earlier entries, starting with “Forms of Feeling: Poetry in Our Lives” (Dec. 23, 2024).

5. Using “Chat” on this website let me know if there are any topics you’d like to see me cover in the future.

ENJOY!