POETRY REVIEW FEATURED POET FEATURED ARTIST CONTRIBUTORS GUIDELINES ABOUT TIMELINE
Rebecca Guess Cantor


Second Date

We drive down Grove Street on our second date,
And though we're quiet the space is filled with shy
But daring looks. The car reflects the sky
As we breeze past, surrounded by the weight
Of storms that seem to hang above a great
Expanse of clouds. But one cloud doesn't try
To wait. It bursts alone, and falls to dry
Pavement below. Instead of rushing by, my date
Just turns into a lot to chase the patch
Of rain that swirls around the trees, around
The cars, and trucks, the lamps and straight, white lines,
And we are brought together by the catch.
Then it's gone. We listen to the sound
Of breaths, of lives, that weave like climbing vines.




Girl

The rain falls coldly.
I see a girl and
The casual games she craves.
She runs past, hair spilling behind her.

I see a girl and
Her layered skirt, damp.
She runs past, hair spilling behind her,
Pink cheeks, pink purse, pink.

Her layered skirt damp
As she ignores the cold and wet, her
Pink cheeks, pink purse, pink
Lips she uses to kiss.

As she ignores the cold and wet, her
Charms cause boys to follow those
Lips she uses to kiss.
The boys hope that she is easy.

Charms cause boys to follow those
Girls who smile through the gray rain.
The boys hope that she is easy.
They see just a girl. They like

Girls who smile through the gray rain
And so they flirt and touch.
They see just a girl. They like
That they might have her,

And so they flirt and touch
As much as she will let them touch
That they might have her.
Until they pass her on.

As much as she will let them touch
She always thinks it's up to her
Until they pass her on.
And then she knows.

She always thinks it's up to her
The casual games she craves.
And then she knows--
The rain falls coldly.

































AUTHOR BIO

Rebecca Guess Cantor writes about names and naming, Mark Twain and American Literature, women's issues and women in the Bible, among other subjects. She received her Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University in 2011 and enjoys teaching literature and writing to undergraduates. Rebecca lives with Ryan (Vice President of the local library) and their two children John and Norah (lovers of libraries) in Fullerton, California.

POETRY CONTRIBUTORS

Liz Ahl
Shaune Bornholdt
Rebecca Guess Cantor
Joanna Cattonar
Claudia Gary
Carrie Jerrell (Featured Poet)
Ann Kolakowski
Jenna Le
Diane Lockward
Barbara Loots
Kathleen McClung
Susan McLean
Angela O'Donnell
Jessica Piazza
Rosemarie Rowley
Maxine Silverman
Katherine Smith
Linda Stern
Karrie Waarala
Marly Youmans

NEWS

>Mezzo Cammin featured in VIDA: Women in Literary Arts

>Mezzo Cammin featured on the blog of The Best American Poetry

>The Mezzo Cammin Women Poets Timeline Project Turns 50--with Emily Dickinson

>The Mezzo Cammin Women Poets Timeline Project at Lincoln Center, Friday, April 11th, 7-9 PM. Rhina Espaillat, Angela O'Donnell, Erica Dawson, Maryann Corbett, and others.

FEATURED ARTIST
Author Erica Jong
Marion Ettlinger: I was raised in Queens, New York, the daughter of German-Jewish immigrants. I was educated at The High School of Music & Art and The Cooper Union, both in Manhattan. Shortly after graduation, I moved to Northern Vermont, where I lived for seventeen years. Although I have been practicing portraiture since the Sixties, it was in the early Eighties that I found my true vocation in photographing poets and writers, who as subjects remain compelling and irresistible to me still. Using only natural light and black and white film, I continue this work based in Manhattan.
ARCHIVES
LINKS
POETRY
32 Poems
The Academy of American Poets
The Atlantic
The Christian Science Monitor
The Cortland Review
Favorite Poem Project
The Frost Place
The Iowa Review
Light Quarterly
Modern American Poetry
Measure
The Poem Tree
Poetry
Poetry Daily
Poetry Society of America
Poets House
Raintown Review
Slate
String Poet
Valparaiso Poetry Review
Verse Daily
Women's Poetry Listserv
The Yale Review

CONFERENCES
AWP
Bread Loaf
Poetry by the Sea
Sewanee


PUBLISHERS

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BOOKS
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OTHER RESOURCES
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