repping the west...

I thought I might take a year off May Day. But I am going to maybe post a bit anyway. I am doing a number of heavy things right now and won't have much time to participate as I usually do. I might try and catch up in June, particularly in the best part (reading! commenting!) - but for now a quick 'ello. A wave. A kiss on each cheek. ~ andie.

Intro to Louella Lester

Hi Everyone,

Thanks to Angeline Janel Schellenberg, for inviting me to join The May Day Poet Blog.

I write poetry and fiction in Winnipeg. I have been published in some journals like Prairie Fire:Electric City 2, Poetry is Dead, Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine, The Antigonish Review, etc. I read my poems at Speaking Crow on the first Tuesday of every month (that’s where I first met Angeline).

I am currently working on a poetry project about the jobs I’ve had over the years, with serious and humorous twists.

And I’m starting a new poetry project involving CFL football, specifically the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, because for some reason I have always loved CFL football. I follow the news, drafts, training camp, blogs and rule changes. I watch all of the games and don’t go to Grey Cup parties because I actually want to see and hear the game. I’m not a violent person, really I’m not. I love the strategy of the game. One month to go until pre-season games starts! And Drew Willy has signed an extended contact, until 2017.  Okay, I’ll stop now.

My goal is to share a poem once a week, because the first couple of weeks of May will be pretty busy for me.

I don’t use Google for blogging, etc. much, so forgive my errors in advance.

I look forward to reading everyone’s poetry (well as much as I can).

Louella Lester

Around the bend/Luckiest dreamers

There’s an open road and a road that’s hidden.–Who’s the Boss theme song

The Seavers and Keatons

have no nothing
they can’t love each other through.
But I was the only one
in my family
who liked fish,
the only one who feared
honey bees, the only
one who could see the demons
downstairs and the friends
in my closet.
I was pulling my brother
out of puddles and traffic
when the rest of fifth grade picked
teams.
We were the only home
in town with an El Camino,
Fragile X, and a fully decorated
Christmas tree in storage.
Nobody asked me
What you talkin’ ’bout?
or yelled Goodnight Ma through open
windows while the porch
lights hummed.
Like Tony and Angela,
nine months ago
I took a chance and faced the wind,
convinced mine would be the pilot episode
where I fall out of bed and die before
I have a family.

 

 

The old words are all you need

Bread and wine
Butter and salt
Fish and fowl
Hand and foot
Flesh and blood
Cat and mouse
Horse and hound
Cow and sheep
Sea and land
Oak and elm
Young and old
Fire and water
Hand and foot
House and home
Sleep and dream
Sun and moon
Heaven and earth

The runaway housewife at 1:00 am

Leave your husband and son, travel west
over the tomato vomit in the hallway, toward
a ghost town, say Dummer, Saskatchewan,
with a possible overnight in Forget. First, find
the door, then your marquee. Grab the last cinnamon bun
to dull the razor blade of your tongue. The clink clock
of your hot buttons tumbling in the dryer. Clasp hook and
sky, untangle tufts of hint caught in your slipper. Count aloud
the names of fish – tuna, thread ell, forssk. The Ikea
in your mind may yet have an exit. Stare past the Velcro
voices, the selvages you’ve managed to unravel.
There is no sin in the stumble to surrender. Remember: falling
feels like the dog’s muffle between the sofa cushions, and
tonight, the last flush is your amen.


(An older piece that I just reworked and lengthened.)

Hello dear May Day-ers!

My ink-well has been dry for a while now, but I'm hoping to feed off of your words and your inspiration so I can create a few interesting ink blots of my own. Please feel free to analyse!  

Hello again!

I'm happy to be back with May Day, and grateful to Angeline for coordinating it this year. I have not written much the last several months, and am hoping that the routine of May Day will help me get back into it.

This group has been a great help: some of the poems in my new book made their first appearance here, and two of the four poems that just appeared on Lemon Hound first appeared here as well. So, many thanks to you fellow MayDayers!

A return to May/Day

Hello all -

I took last year off (and frankly didn't post much in '13), but am feeling the urge to do some wordplay and this is a perfect impetus, so thank you to Angeline for coordinating and nudging. I am one of the originators of this project, and it's wonderful to see it still going this many years later!

I live in Denver, Colorado. I hike and bike in the mountains, and am more often writing grants and website content and code than poetry these days. I have some excellent fodder in May in the form of visits to relatives and former cities, and my college reunion!

Look forward to reading and sharing words and thoughts -

Polly