The title of my new book and in prepublication phase from Finishing Line Press here's one of the poems and then a promo
I will also post a launch party her ein Kingston hopefully at the end of Setmeber; readings, musci and good fun
Brooding on Eggs
One egg
crack it open on the side of a blue bowl
slide into hot buttery sputtering frying pan
Do not be disturbed
if the yolk is green or red Color depends on diet One chicken
nibbles kale, another red berries
One Easter the temperature
reached 85 Our three year old lifted leaves of tulips
hunted beneath azaleas filled his basket with dyed eggs
and devoured a chocolate one the yolk sugary white
One Easter I wore a blue and yellow suit a cloche trimmed with lilies
My sister wore green She held a straw basket emptied of eggs
In two months she would be dead
So easy to ruin an egg one can slip on the floor
or if one cracks the egg too fast
bits of shell mix with the whites
Eggs break in the safety of a carton before they come home
or die before their time
Always check the expiration date
Before my expiration date
I want to be an empty egg shell
floating under a water jet spinning in circles
on Corpus Christi in Barcelona
Emerge whole in a golden yellow dress
trimmed with white fur
protecting my delicate insides
Tumble to a tapas bar
eat slice after slice of tortilla
sip glass after glass of manzanilla
Drink one, just one egg cream, letting the foam
remain on my upper lip
And skywrite this
There are NO Eggs in a NY EggCream
I am so happy to announce that my poetry book
The Dark Inside My Hooded Coat is in prepublication
Mare Leonard’s chapbook ( a group of 18 poems) takes reader on a journey from past to present, invites us into a conversation between generations, and is an exploration of what a poet doesn’t know but feels about family and how she came to be who she is. Places matter: beginning, in early 20th century, in the Southern Italian town of Montagano, moving through her family’s experiences in Hell’s Kitchen, and then in Crestwood Each poem’s language told me as much about the poet as about the family’s journey. The language and form of Leonard’s poetry evolve as the stories change, and as the focus moves from her family to her growth and experience as a young woman .
–Teresa Vilardi is the Former Director of The Institute for Writing and Thinking at Bard College in Annandale-on-the Hudson. In addition she taught numerous workshops for teachers in all disciplines through the Institute and along with Mary Chang edited Writing Based Teaching: Essential practices and Enduring Questions.
In her new chapbook, The Dark Inside My Hooded Coat, Mare Leonard artfully integrates memoir and vivid descriptions of her family and ancestors in poems that take us into vital American origins of people, historic neighborhoods, daily work and simple joys. Yet she also moves us into the present when we least expect it. In poem after poem, Leonard weaves rich and heartbreaking details like “Dad worked in a printing plant / engraving toxic chemicals” and with unexpected humor like this line, sky-written, “There are no eggs in a NY egg cream.” Sharing in the experiences of these poems, the reader is drawn in and deeply moved.
–Cathryn Shea’s most recent chapbook is “It’s Raining Lullabies” (Dancing Girl Press, 2017). Her poetry was nominated for Best of the Net 2017 and recently appears in Tar River Poetry, Permafrost, and Tinderbox, among others. See www.cathrynshea.com and @cathyshea Twitter.
Description PREORDER SHIPS NOVEMBER 23, 2018
The Dark Inside My Hooded Coat
by Mary Leonard
$13.99, paper Finishing Line Press
