pulverized diamonds

   

Kate Camp

THE INSOMNIAC LEARNS A LOT

Dark voices talk to her
about the most poisonous substance
known to man, about heirloom potatoes
and for an hour acute pain.
Next week: chronic pain.

All around her tiny green, red and orange lights
where things are in sleep mode and standby mode.
The house is a city full of traffic
needing to be told when to stop and go.

Underneath the covers her body is busy
and warm as an animal.
So many litres of sweat drain out of it
she might drown in her mattress
might lie in it like a tank
like a glass coffin.

All night the house ticks and clanks
like a cake cooling on a rack.
With its curtains drawn it is blind
and only two eyes open
only two doll’s eyes fighting open.

In the morning men come to break bottles
men come to cut, they leap from their truck
and mow down hundreds of daisies
that at night close up like fields of fists
because even flowers
know how to go to sleep.


New Zealander Kate Camp has at least two collections out, this is to say, I know of two. I have her first, Unfamiliar Legends of the Stars (1998), which won the Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry at the 1999 Montana New Zealand Book Awards.

I also suffer from insomnia, and have written about it a lot. This is from my fourth chapbook, What God Said When She Finally Answered Me, Rattlesnake Press. I put  it here today as an 'answer poem.'


James Lee Jobe

FIFTH NIGHT AWAKE

Just before dawn, rain came
to bathe the valley. On tip-toes
so I wouldn't wake my family,
I slip outside to the garden.
The rain was soft and steady
on our tomatoes, our beans.
Drink, drink, little friends,
I'm here to watch you grow.

A wide red streak dresses
the eastern sky. The rain eases
off into a breeze borne mist,
kissing the upraised arms
of the early corn. I raise
my arms, too, to the sky.
Drink, drink, James,
I'm here to watch you grow.


From JoAnn Anglin:

Dear Calendar editor: 

Writers of the New Sun/Escritores del Nuevo Sol have a new meeting date: the 3rd Saturday of each month.  Coming dates are:  March 28, April 18, May 16, June 20.  The 10 AM potluck meetings are at La Raza Galeria Posada, 1024 – 22nd St., midtown Sacramento.  Call ahead to confirm:  916-456-5323. Members of all skill levels support each other via readings, exercises, critiques and information, writing in English, Spanish, or both. To request information, call 916-456-5323.

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Feel free to email me poems, poetry reading announcements, or poetry links.

jamesleejobe@gmail.com

ALL GOOD THINGS - JOBE