My Ivory Tower

My name is Karin Huxman and I write romance for New Concepts Publishing. You can find my author page at http://newconceptspublishing.com/karinhuxmanbooks.html. I write a mix of time travel, contemporary, paranormal, and sf/fantasy and love every minute of it.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

April is National Poetry Month ...

Have you read a poem today?

In honor of National Poetry Month I'm inviting anyone who wishes to post a poem in the comments section of this blog. Go ahead, be brave and post one of your own. I'm going to, to start it off. The only thing is, if you post a poem written by someone else please make sure you have persmission to use it or it is already a public domain poem. I'd rather not deal with any copyright issues. And please feel free to comment on poems posted, but be polite. Poets are sensitive souls. Most of all, have fun.

Poetry is meant to illuminate a moment in time, space, or the human spirit. Some are light, some heavier in tone. All have the ability to create an emotional response in the reader, at least that's what poets hope for.

The Pikes Peak region, where I call home, has just inaugurated its very first Poet Laureate, a poet by the name of Aaron Anstett. For information about this program and about this poet, please go to http://www.pikespeakpoetlaureate.org/. There are tabs at the top of the page that will help you navigate around. If you are a teacher, you might want to check out the "For Educators" tab. This is such a new program that the site might seem a bit lite (was that a rhyme?) but I know they'll be adding more to it soon and often.

Okay, now for my poem. I wrote this one shortly after the tragedy of September 11, 2001. Many poets felt the need to put their feelings into words as a way to somehow work their way through the horror of the experience. The Gazette, our local newspaper, printed this one. It's probably one of my longer and more emotional published poems.

911
(c) 2001 by Karin Huxman

You can't believe.
It can't be right -
A hoax.
Airplanes do not fly
Into buildings.
Instead of apologizing
Networks rerun footage.
Disbelief morphs into
Creeping horror.
Each rerun,
Each fireball,
Each view of bodies falling,
Concrete shattering,
Steel girders raining down
Like giant toy sculptures
Gone awry -
Becomes a human moment
Juxtaposed against inhuman
Comprehension.
America's throat closes around
The dust clogged air that is
Lower Manhattan.
Lungs labor,
Hearts ache, but still beat
Against the next ... Replay.


If you are a school teacher or have children and want to encourage them to write poetry, please visit my children's book website, http://kdhuxman.wordpress.com. I'd love to see some children's poetry posted.

It's National Poetry Month. Who else wants to play?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ok, I'll play! Not sure where or how to post a poem, so I'll put it here. Thanks, Karin!

Spring’s Tease

Spring flirts,
batting her eyes
with a raise of her skirts
Temperatures rise
We are enticed –
As snow melts and nourishes
The sap swells up, the buds brace for opening
Green leaves push tiny points from the ground
wanting to take a peek around
at Spring’s tease

Spring tosses her head,
dropping a strap
baring a shoulder to bait the trap
Temperatures rise
We shed our clothes –
Ready to share her warmth
But a sudden frost descends, chilling the tiny buds
We sigh and throw on our sweaters again,
shaking our heads in disdain
at Spring’s tease

(By Bdyess
Member, PPRW & PPW)

Barbd said...

P.S. I just registered so hopefully, no more anonymous-es.
Anonymice? Hmm.

Karin, I like your poem & congrats on having it in the Gazette, too.
It seems to describe how many of us felt that day, watching those replays again and again...ugh. They are burned into the retina of my memory - and that of others forever. Thanks for sharing it, since sharing poetry seems a lot like baring one's soul.

Karin Huxman - Romance Author said...

Hi Bdyess,

Thanks for leaving a poem. It says everything about spring! Two days ago we had temps close to 70. Woke up this morning to 6 inches of snow. Anyway, great imagery. - Karin

Karin Huxman - Romance Author said...

Hi Barbd,

I'm glad you liked my poem, this one was exactly like opening myself in a way that wasn't comfortable but something I had to say. What kinds of poetry do you like to read?

= Karin

Donnell Ann Bell said...

Karen, your poem is moving and poignant. I also enjoyed Barb's poem. I'm not a poet unfortunately so I'll live vicariously through you two. Well done.