Poetry...
The poem that won Honorable Mention in the Wisconsin Writers Association Jade Ring contest.
Barkeep’s Morning As night fizzles into dawn, the tavern’s stucco skin froths with amber light. The barkeep squats to his coolers to skate bottle after bottle onto metal dew-coated shelves. The clink and jangle of his work ornament the air as if he’s stirring petals of sea glass. Coins stutter onto the scarred oak counter as his wife shuffles and stacks them into drifting towers of silver. His daughter steeps the stiff fronds of her dry mop in a bucket of soapy water. Suds splash its tin shore. |
Max Garland, the judge of the Jade Ring Contest, suggested that Barkeep's Morning just needed one more line to be a sonnet. So I edited it with that advice in mind.
Barkeep’s Morning Amber light froths on the tavern’s stucco skin, its shallow pores still pocket darkness as Milwaukee wakes. Inside, the barkeep splits gummed cardboard seams on cases of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, squats to a glass-fronted cooler and skates brown bottles onto its dew-glazed metal shelves. To bare its label, he spins each bottle’s throat. The jangle of his work ornaments the air, as if he stirs petals of sea glass. Coins stutter on the counter as his wife spreads and stacks them into spires of drifting silver. His daughter steeps the stiff fronds of her mop in a bucket of soapy water. Suds splash its tin shore. |
Selected works on-line
Motherhood poems
http://www.literarymama.com/poetry/archives/2016/09/an-army-of-one.html
Child-rearing poems:
http://www.versewisconsin.org/Issue112/poems/keller.html
Power poems:
http://www.booksbywomen.org/whenwomenwaken/author/lhttp://www.literarymama.com/poetry/archives/2016/09/an-army-of-one.htmlorakeller/
Obsession poems:
http://lanternjournal.org/2013/03/please-stand-back/
A snake poem and more:
http://original-writer.com/gettingpoetrypublished56lora.html
The Beauty of Life:
http://www.halfwaydownthestairs.net/index.php?action=view&id=411
A fishing poem:
http://www.thenewpoet.com/2013/05/the-new-poet-5.html
Story poems:
http://www.blastfurnacepress.com/2012/11/blast-furnace-volume-2-issue-3.html
Poems about callings:
http://www.med-lit.vcu.edu/MLM2.2.pdf
http://www.literarymama.com/poetry/archives/2016/09/an-army-of-one.html
Child-rearing poems:
http://www.versewisconsin.org/Issue112/poems/keller.html
Power poems:
http://www.booksbywomen.org/whenwomenwaken/author/lhttp://www.literarymama.com/poetry/archives/2016/09/an-army-of-one.htmlorakeller/
Obsession poems:
http://lanternjournal.org/2013/03/please-stand-back/
A snake poem and more:
http://original-writer.com/gettingpoetrypublished56lora.html
The Beauty of Life:
http://www.halfwaydownthestairs.net/index.php?action=view&id=411
A fishing poem:
http://www.thenewpoet.com/2013/05/the-new-poet-5.html
Story poems:
http://www.blastfurnacepress.com/2012/11/blast-furnace-volume-2-issue-3.html
Poems about callings:
http://www.med-lit.vcu.edu/MLM2.2.pdf