Once I didn’t get trees Where I grew up trees were here and there among the houses along the streets buildings seemed bigger I climbed trees I liked them But I didn’t get them. Then I came here Here the trees are monsters or gods they tolerate beneath them only the humble sorrel the bracken […]
Cecelia Holland
Posted inArts + Scene
Crescent City is One Enormous Cosmic Tidepool
Nature raves in Crescent City The rain beats a drumroll on the earth The ocean eats the coast The wind tears the great trees limb from limb The waves hammer the seastacks into sand The human presence clings like      a limpet to a rock, crying      please, please           let me stay
Posted inArts + Scene
Swift thou shouldst be living at this hour
America has need of you. We are a swamp Of muddled, mangled meanings. Corrupted people Say whatever works The words uncoupled from the truth Jobs are actually tax cuts Healthcare is actually tax cuts Freedom is the right to die The baby whom sarin kills matters The child washed up on the shores of the […]
Posted inArts + Scene
There Was An Old Woman Who Worked in the SHU
Grey walls and chain link, razor wire and gun towers. I work here. I teach murderers not to dangle their participles. Blue shirts and knit caps, across their backs CDC PRISONER. Numbers doing numbers. But look! Words blossom from their fingertips. Vines of stories Twine out of their mouths, poems Roll from their palms like […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Orchestra of Aging
The old bones knock together like wind chimes The body is a flute full of air Played at both ends The lungs are violins The ears percussive In my way of going I leave music