June 2016
Mock Orange Reboot
Mock Orange Reboot
(With a big nod to Louise Glück,
whose poem “Mock Orange” can be found here.)
Louise Glück hates
mock orange:
the scent reminds her of sex
(with a man),
how desire takes hold,
takes over.
How the feeling after –
sober distance, separation –
gives the lie to
her longing for union.
I too understand
the strange power
the force
of mock orange:
sweet scent
sweeping over
as you open the door,
step onto the porch.
It lasts a few days
and is past;
blossoms wither
and die.
But during those days
I am blissful,
dizzy with longing.
Mock orange for me is a promise
of pounding…
February 2016
Showcase your passion!
Around the millenium our young adult daughter held a family conference to help her sort out her career plans. She was considering a number of competing options; her most important criterion was to find something that she felt passionate about. I remember being struck by both the expression and the idea itself. Growing up I had mostly heard the word “passion” in one of two contexts: the “Passion of Christ,” referring to Jesus’ suffering on the cross (as in the St. Matthew Passion), or – in cheap paperback books I wasn’t supposed to be reading – as forbidden, sexual desire. The term…
November 2014
Back to Nature
Back to Nature
We took to the woods
to escape from our desks,
from our books and our podcasts,
too many reviews of arts and of letters:
from culture consumed directly
or through mediation of others.
We wanted the freshness of nature.
We walk in the woods,
we keep our eyes open
to take in the freshness of nature.
“Oh, look,” you call out,
“that squirrel with a nut in its mouth!
Sitting so still, so frozen in time –
it’s just like a statue,” you say.
“I love this blanket of leaves we wade through,
soft and deep – like a thick Persian carpet,”
I declare and continue,
“And the view up…
Cybersexisten: Neuigkeiten aus den USA
Cybersexisten: Neuigkeiten aus den USA 16.11.2014
Ich habe den folgenden Text Mitte November 2014 bei einer Lesung mit Luise im Endlich-Salon des Frauencafés endlich im Hamburg vorgetragen. Ich poste ihn leicht verändert hier wieder. -Joey Horsley
Ich habe in der Ankündigung gelesen, dass ich euch heute abend “mit einer gehörigen Portion Ironie über die sprachliche Herrenkultur in den USA” unterhalten werde. Ob mir das gelingt? Jedenfalls werde ich versuchen, über einige Neuigkeiten von drüben zu berichten. Denn, obwohl ich jetzt über einen Monat bei Luise in Hannover bin, habe ich wie…
October 2014
Mid-September Walk in the Wilderness
I walk to raise my heart rate
and my mood. To count my steps
I wear a wireless wellness monitor –
it’s called a Fitbit.
(I didn’t want to go.
Glued to my chair and screen
I’d rather keep on playing,
addicted as I am
to Solitaire and constant
buzz of broadcast news.
I disapprove
of these bad habits.
I should be more productive.)
Success: my shoes are on,
the door is shut behind me
and halfway up the hill
I start to see
the trees and hear
the curving cries of jays
proclaiming autumn’s onset.
I take the path into the woods,
the so-called…