Part 2, Poets Speaking To Poets

~ Lynne Burnett ~ 2 Comments

This is my second poem included in the anthology “Poets Speaking To Poets: Echoes and Tributes” – the brainchild of editors Robert Hamblin and Nicholas Fargnoli and is a tribute to poet Jane Kenyon. It first appeared in my chapbook “Irresistible”. Imagine my surprise to be handed a brochure about the artist Jane Kenyon during a walk one day!  Referenced in the first stanza are various titles from her striking works and in the second are titles and lines from the poet – fun to do and which would be evident to any reader already familiar with the poet’s work; however I wanted to give equal footing to the lesser known artist, whose exhibition theme echoed so many of Jane Kenyon’s poems. The artist didn’t begin her career in visual art until 1993, two years before the poet died. Though the poet was born in 1947 and the artist in 1953, they probably didn’t know each other. You can find out more about the artist here

The book is a wonderful collection of poems that talk to each other through poets past and present. It’s available on Amazon here and also here.  

Poets Speaking To Poets

~ Lynne Burnett ~ 16 Comments

This poem, which first appeared in my chapbook “Irresistible”, is the first of two selected for the anthology  “Poets Speaking To Poets: Echoes and Tributes” – the brainchild of editors Robert Hamblin and Nicholas Fargnoli. My poem was written after Cecilia Woloch’s “Blazon”. I will post my tribute poem later. The book is a wonderful collection of poems that talk to each other through poets past and present. It’s available on Amazon here and also here.  

Origami of Longing

~ Lynne Burnett ~ 10 Comments
Photo by Jill Wellington from Pexels

This poem is one of four just published in the anthology “easing the edges: a collection of everyday miracles” and has also been nominated for a Pushcart prize. My deep thanks to editor d. ellis phelps for this honour and for its inclusion in such a heartwarming book! And for those who’d like to read further or gift it, it’s available for a very reasonable price on Amazon http://easing the edges: a collection of everyday miracles (US) and http://easing the edges: a collection of everyday miracles (Canada)

easing the edges: a collection of everyday miracles by [d. ellis phelps]

Playing The Blues

~ Lynne Burnett ~ 13 Comments

Painting by Lenore Conacher

is to find pleasure in postponing
happiness awhile, letting the lights
dim, and go to those rivers
you have drowned in before
where lament, bronzed with
longing, hovers in the air,
and fill your lungs with it.

Melancholy is gorgeous when
it’s not just yours: no grape
more often crushed
for its fabulous blue note,
no glass emptied as slowly,
the bubble-burst of sorrow
like champagne on the lips,

no melody more played,
strung, as it is, like a bridge
you can cross now—
weep of the guitar,
moan of the sexy saxophone:
all that was,
and all that might have been.

I had the concept of “saudade” on the brain this morning, probably because of Ada Limon’s introduction to today’s poem on The Slowdown. My poem was written quite some time ago and was inspired by a painting by local artist Lenore Conacher.

HERITAGE

~ Lynne Burnett ~ 8 Comments

My son, holding his new baby boy, whom he named after his dad.

Americano coffee in a mug,
time alone to savor
some timeless good words,
the day, for me, just beginning,
unfolding sip by sip
from the generous cup
in which it is first held.

 Yes, wars still rage
on either side of the heart’s door.
But lucky me—a colicky baby
born into a colicky world,
a world, it turns out, impossible
not to love
with all the muscle
of the grateful arms
in which I was first held.

This seemed like the perfect poem for me to post, as I’m still in the glow of my son becoming a new father, the little guy a month old now. It was first published in 2008 in North Shore Magazine.