New Poem of the Week: To tell you that . . .

In the moment just after my Beloved  left for work, I noticed a miracle in the arms of a tree and this poem vibrated through my heart and hummed in my breath until my fingertips could touch these keys.

to tell you that . . . 

The heart, is a bird-nest in an apple tree
made of simple things found commonly
fragile and light, but nestled . . .

[More]

~ David Anthony Martin
copyright 2013

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This poem is part of my current notebook which may be working its way towards being called The Trick To Tying Balloons.

I have a manuscript, Deepening the Map being considered for publication, another manuscript, Owl Light nearly ready to submit. I am also making marked headway on my novel Lost Dog and frequently contributing to my novel jam and very excited to have dreamed an epic dream which i am excited to write into an amazing novel or series called searth. More on that later.

If you like this poem, consider reading a few of my new poems on my blog and checking out my book Span (Rhizome Publishing 2011, 2012,) Rhizome Publishing has gone out of business, and although my book is now out of print, I do have a few copies left at home, contact me to purchase them via my blogsite using PayPal or by check or money order $14.00 includes shipping and handling.

The cover art by Mathias Valdez of Last Leaf Printing takes the book as object” concept to a lovely level.  Span also makes a great, inexpensive gift for the book or nature lover on your list.

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Dove True Beauty Sketches

Dove True Beauty Sketches

How we see ourselves is very important, our judgment and inner language can truly be a lens through which we see ourselves and others. We are beautiful and others see this beauty.

New Cold Misty Day Haiku

Read the Haiku at my An Illuminated Path of Heart blog

~ David Anthony Martin
copyright 2013

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This haiku is part of my current notebook. I have a manuscript, Deepening the Map being considered for publication, another manuscript, Owl Light nearly ready to submit and well on my way with this next notebook toward another manuscript in the works. I am also making marked headway on my novel Lost Dog and frequently contributing to my novel jam and very excited to have dreamed an epic dream which i am excited to write into an amazing novel or series called searth. More on that later.

If you like this poem, consider reading a few of my new poems on my blog and checking out my book Span (Rhizome Publishing 2011, 2012) which will soon be out of print, but currently can still be purchased as an eBook and read on most devices or as a beautiful paperback to be held in your hands and taken with you on your day.  The cover art by Mathias Valdez of Last Leaf Printing takes the book as object” concept to a lovely level.  Span also makes a great, inexpensive gift for the book or nature lover on your list.

If you are unable to find a distributor with available copies, I do have a few copies left at home, contact me to purchase them via my blogsite and PayPal.

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New Poem of the Week: Nightlight

I have been noting much of the early Spring miracles as of late, the unique quality of this time of year in Colorado is that it transcends seasons, some days are golden and balmy and I am grinning at the sprouted poppies and caressing new subtle colors in the thin skin of trees and the next day a soft blizzard comes to whiten and water the world, but a surprising thing happened this evening, something about the quality of light and stillness that evoked a summer morning memory when I was working on the Hobbs Family Farm in Avondale, Colorado.

 

nightlight

nights ink fills in the spaces between tree trunks
the moon spreads herself softly as snowlight
in the limbs of apple trees is that same stillness
remembered flashing in white patches on wings
…[More]

~ David Anthony Martin
copyright 2013
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More about the Hobbs Family Farm can be found on their Facebook page or at the website for their organic Farm Direct Seed Company.

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This poem is part of my current notebook. I have a manuscript, Deepening the Map being considered for publication, another manuscript, Owl Light nearly ready to submit and well on my way with this next notebook toward another manuscript in the works. I am also making great headway on my novel Lost Dog.

If you like this poem, consider reading a few of my new poems on my blog and checking out my book Span (Rhizome Publishing 2011, 2012) which will soon be out of print, but currently can still be purchased as an eBook and read on most devices or as a beautiful paperback to be held in your hands and taken with you on your day.  The cover art by Mathias Valdez of Last Leaf Printing takes the book as object” concept to a lovely level.  Span also makes a great, inexpensive gift for the book or nature lover on your list.

If you are unable to find a distributor with available copies, I do have a few copies left at home, contact me to purchase them via my blogsite and PayPal.

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New Poem of the Week: Underlying Truths About Poetry and Who We Are

“The truth of a poem is actually much deeper
than whether or not something really happened.
What matters is an undergirding truth that I think is the power of poetry
and I think that, when I veer from that even by a syllable,
it’s my job to know if I’ve veered from that.”
~Dr. Elizabeth Alexander

Listening to On Being with Krista Tippet is a regular part of my week although it airs on Sunday, I do not always listen on Sunday but stream it when I have a chance. Last night while cutting vegetables for our salad I was listening to Krista’s interview with Dr. Elizabeth Alexander, who is a poet and professor at Yale University who recently wrote and delivered “Praise Song for the Day” at Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration.

As a poet this interview was very interesting, however it’s impact went beyond interesting as it seemed to speak directly to a poem I had crafted this year. When Elizabeth Alexander said that poetry is “not all love, love, love,
and I’m sorry the dog died.” it immediately reminded me of my poem, “Sometimes, dogs”

This poem, “Sometimes, dogs” is a poem that gave me pause to reflect as it is the only poem I have written in which the “plot” and movement of events is not accurately drawn from a single experience in my life, rather it is a hybrid of experiences woven together into an anecdotal narrative-styled poem. It is a poem of experience; a poem, which I hope, allows us to “…think about who we are.” 

A bit later in the interview she elaborates, saying “You know, when I say ‘poetry is not all love, love, love,’ I mean romantic love is where we go first with the word. But really there is so much more to the word. The word is sober. The word is grave. The word is not just about something light and happy and pleasurable. The word calls up deep, deep responsibilities.”

She talks about how poetry has always been about community, that at it’s roots it is part of the societal discussion. She implies that this is the impetus of poetry, or at least a part of it’s functioning, when she says that it’s essence is “I gotta tell you my story. I gotta tell you what happened. Let’s think about who we are.”

Even though I understand the context of what Dr. Alexander was speaking to, I also received a different message, a message that helped me to understand my own poem. “Sometimes, dogs” is a poem about being sorry that the dog died, and so much more which falls into the category of both about love and about the dog dying and about sober, grave issues which I believe are calling us to brave, deep responsibilities to talk about who we are.

sometimes, dogs

If you have had a dog,
then you know their pure love,
and most, their frailty

sometimes, dogs outlive their offspring
yet their lifespan is still shorter than their owners’
especially the children they’ve grown up playing with

you have tasted the sweetness your own life
in their tail wagging from ear to ear
as much you have tasted your own mortality
in the foreshadow of their passing

… [Read More]

~David Anthony Martin
Copyright 2013

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You can stream the pod cast or read the transcript from the interview with Dr. Alexander at On Being.

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This poem is part of my current notebook. I have a manuscript, Deepening the Map being considered for publication, another manuscript, Owl Light nearly ready to submit and well on my way with this next notebook toward another manuscript in the works.

If you like this poem, consider reading a few of my new poems on my blog and checking out my book Span (Rhizome Publishing 2011, 2012) which will soon be out of print, but currently can still be purchased as an eBook and read on most devices or as a beautiful paperback to be held in your hands and taken with you on your day.  The cover art by Mathias Valdez of Last Leaf Printing takes the book as object” concept to a lovely level.  Span also makes a great, inexpensive gift for the book or nature lover on your list.

If you are unable to find a distributor with available copies, I do have a few copies left at home, contact me to purchase them via my blogsite and PayPal.

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Ted Kooser helped me write the new Poem of the Week

Ted Kooser,  former United States Poet Laureate (2004-2006) sugest in his book The Poetry Repair Manual (p.30) he mentions that he sometimes turns his poems upside down so that the opening lines are the last. He suggests that sometimes he likes this better, that it changes the flow of the information. I have found that shuffling poem stanzas in a different order than originally written also can have very interesting effects and inform the creation of the poem.

During the process of cleaning and reworking poems for Owl Light I recently used this technique for a challenging poem. The second stanza wasn’t working out well and so I flipped it on it’s head. When I did this I ended up seeing things i could rearrange and rework, this then led me to change a few choice words and work with the line length and eventually encapsulate the previous fragmented poem into one cohesive poem sans stanzas. The result is the poem ache, which now has added nuances and a more open relation to the reader and the readers interpretation, reception and companionship.

ache

little red flower beating in it’s phony, bony cage
stalk it a sunbeam, and what little water it cries for
put it to bed, soft and warm . . . [more]

~ David Anthony Martin
copyright, 2013

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This poem is part of my current work in progress Owl Light, a manuscript nearly ready to submit. I have a manuscript, Deepening the Map being considered for publication, and am well on my way with this next notebook toward another manuscript in the works.

If you like this poem, consider reading a few of my new poems on my blog and checking out my book Span (Rhizome Publishing 2011, 2012) which will soon be out of print, but currently can still be purchased as an eBook and read on most devices or as a beautiful paperback to be held in your hands and taken with you on your day.  The cover art by Mathias Valdez of Last Leaf Printing takes the book as object” concept to a lovely level.  Span also makes a great, inexpensive gift for the book or nature lover on your list.

If you are unable to find a distributor with available copies, I do have a few copies left at home, contact me to purchase them via my blogsite and PayPal.

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Valentines Day Poem

early valentine
                                  ~for Amy

all those timeless afternoons
before you were born, I was
on my back in the grass
repeating “radio,radio,radio”
until the words lost all meaning
while field grasses gathered darkness,
and the swallows retreated to their houses
as the lattice of forest became . . . [MORE]

~David Anthony Martin, copyright 2013

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This poem is dedicated to my amazing Wife, Soulmate and Twin Flame. Amy is ten years younger than I, so there were many years I was alive before she was even born, let alone all those years before we finally got into the same room and truly saw each other in 2011.

If you like this poem, consider reading a few of my new poems on my blog and checking out my book Span (Rhizome Publishing 2011, 2012) which can be purchased as an eBook and read on most devices or as a beautiful paperback to be held in your hands and taken with you on your day.  The cover art by Mathias Valdez of Last Leaf Printing takes the book as object” concept to a lovely level.  Span also makes a great, inexpensive gift for the book or nature lover on your list.

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To buy Span now with Paypal, Click on image below.

     

Span | A Collection of Poems by David A. Martin
Paperback, 144 pages.

$9.95 + tax and shipping.
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New Poem of the Week, Vineyard

vineyard
“I took the colors of silence and painted a moon on a moving curtain.”
~Bruce Owens

this line, resonant, repeating, it’s
playing in my head like a scratch-
blessed record of a cyclic moment,
a well developed nocturne vintage,
a rainy day breaths’ slow pleasure
of warm afternoons giving way to
cool nights and coastal morning fog
having had time to breathe before served
golden time here is the decanter of light
no dead wood but the axe handles
…[more]

excerpt copyright 2013 David A. Martin

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I have written several poems this year in what I am starting to call my “On A Line” seriese as they are written on a line from another poet, or a quote or even a photograph. This poem, vineyard, was spawned after reading a line from a poetic comment by the poet Bruce Owens, author of Rushes in the Eddies (and a forthcoming book to be announced) in reference to the following quote by Rimbaud.

“I turned silences and nights into words.
What was unutterable I wrote down.
I made the whirling world stand still.”
~Arthur Rimbaud

I find the interaction I have between poets inspirational.  Social networking has given us this new framework of disembodied communities within which we can dip into or dwell to any degree.  Poets, writers and other artists have an amazing opportunity to connect, give feedback, inspire and urge each other onward to ward greater manifestation of our art or our message.   Consensual acts of linguistic play can develop into so much more, adding depth and quality to our relationships to others and to the art we bring to the worlds eyes and ears.

If you like this poem, consider reading a few of my new poems on my blog and checking out my book Span (Rhizome Publishing 2011, 2012) which can be purchased as an eBook and read on most devices or as a beautiful paperback to be held in your hands and taken with you on your day.  The cover art by Mathias Valdez of Last Leaf Printing takes the book as object” concept to a lovely level.  Span also makes a great, inexpensive gift for the book or nature lover on your list.

__________________________________________________________________________________
To buy Span now with Paypal, Click on image below.

     

Span | A Collection of Poems by David A. Martin
Paperback, 144 pages.

$9.95 + tax and shipping.
__________________________________________________________________________________

An Evening with Colorado Poet David Martin

a little bird told me . . .

Innisfree Bookshop & Coffeehouse will be hosting me on January 31st.

 

Looking forward to a reading, It’s been awhile.

 

This independent bookstore is one of only three exclusively-poetry bookstores in america! creates and fosters a daily, living space for poetry lovers of all ages. The bookstore was named in honor of William Butler Yeats poem” The Isle of Innisfree” where the poet imagined himself living as Thoreau did at Walden Pond.

If you can’t make it or know others in the Denver / Boulder area who might be interested please share this event with them.

 

Join the Event on Facebook for more info and other ways to connect!

An Evening with Poet David Martin

Innisfree Poetry Bookstore & Cafe
Boulder, Colorado

Poem of the Week: Setting up House

setting up house

You emerge from behind the curtain of the bedroom
clothed in winter’s black and grey, soft shirt
unbuttoned sweater

with our best eye we frame what nature presents us
smiling back at us over it’s shoulder
as it flies to where we cannot go . . .

[More]

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If you like this poem, consider reading a few of my new poems on my blog and checking out my book Span (Rhizome Publishing 2011, 2012) which can be purchased as an eBook and read on most devices or as a beautiful paperback to be held in your hands and taken with you on your day.  The cover art by Mathias Valdez of Last Leaf Printing takes the book as object” concept to a lovely level.  Span also makes a great, inexpensive gift for the book or nature lover on your list.

__________________________________________________________________________________
To buy Span now with Paypal, Click on image below.

     

Span | A Collection of Poems by David A. Martin
Paperback, 144 pages.

$9.95 + tax and shipping.
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