Valerian

I shouldn’t take

These herbs, because

I will handle the tablets

of mummies.

Perhaps, nightmares of

crumbling clay faces

will actual my quickening.

With broken

Ears and teeth

I am welcomed

In the unraveling of servants.

And for my

foolish prying of hinges

I unearth myself in attics.

The Word "is"

I will write

That tremendously

Intriguing phrase

On a note card

And tack it

To my wall

And I will

Look at it

Every day

Until it ceases

To have

Any meaning

At all.

When Flowers Turn to Clouds

Time passes

And you don’t know

What I do

In the morning

In the heavy day

In the light of solar rays

What I live for

Where I stand on the

So called important issues

What I believe in

And whom I love

How far I’ve travelled

And my abandonment

And embracement

Of things and people

And my reasons why

And then I hear your voice

And I remember that

Time passes by.

I’ll See You Soon

*

There are trees moving

In the twilight

outside my window.

They are whispering.

I am listening

to an old friend.

Diamonds reflect the many faces.

There are many places underground

and in the thicket.

I was known by the name of Davian.

*

Light shimmers through

The chlora-fingers

And the clouds smile back at me.

When the darkness came,

we lit a fire

and camped under the evergreens

The old bass in the lake

sleep with pagan

faces watching.

I speak with animals

in the waking

of a tide washing.

Wings with wolf-body

Turn paws to clouds

And I feel unusual

…and interesting.

David Dodd Lee’s forthcoming book of poems, The Nervous Filaments (2010, Four Way Books), is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com. Lee teaches at Indiana University South Bend.

Other books of poetry by Lee: Downsides of Fish Culture (1997), Arrow Pointing North (2002), Abrupt Rural (2004).

Kelcey Parker

Kelcey Parker, assistant professor of English at IU South Bend, has been recognized as Artist of the Month for November 2009 at Image Journal.

Frances Hwang at IU South Bend

Frances Hwang, author of Transparency will be reading at IU South bend. Her story collection, Transparency (Back Bay Books/Little, Brown & Company, 2007), received the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction and a PEN/Beyond Margins Award. Hwang teaches at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana.

Location: IU South Bend on the 3^rd floor “Bridge” of Wiekamp Hall.

When: Monday, Nov. 23, at 7:30 p.m.

*This event is free and open to the public. There will be light refreshments and a book-signing.

“All the grown-ups burst out laughing, and then my aunt turned to look at me. ‘So you think I’m not as pretty?’ she said. My fingers trailed along the sofa as I moved away from her. ‘You think your mom is prettier than me, hey?’ All at once, she lunged, squeezing me tight. When she suctioned my face with kisses, I could feel the hot steam of her emotion. She was a tyrant in that way, her passions swirled messily together, making me afraid. To love and to hate was the same, and even the dog was scared of her.”

–From Transparency “Giving a Clock”