POETRYFEATURED POET FEATURED ARTIST CONTRIBUTORS GUIDELINES ABOUT TIMELINE
Holly Woodward


Hovering

The white ibis glides overhead
to the far side of Turnball Bay--
the distance between what was said
and all I wished I could say.

Before me, the muscled tides flow,
and sharp winds cut back at the waves
so I can't see what lies below--
those secrets the dark water saves.

The sea grass curves in question marks
around my searching, submerged hand.
Blue, broken shells like heaven shards
lie on the narrow strip of sand.

Whichever shoreline I walk to,
the wild birds fly to the other.
This morning divides me from you,
but the birdcalls echo over.




Wreath

Days grow short in November,
the leaves are wracked by winds.
Their dance makes me remember
my restless, weathered sins.

Shadows slither down the street,
night splits the last trees apart,
and every stranger I meet
hides a tear in a burnt heart.

Branches can't scratch through the black,
no shard of daylight is saved--
not one second can one fall back--
no stone can be unengraved.

I'll cut a bittersweet vine
and tie it up with my grief
to lay on your granite stone
and touch your name in relief.

We are submerged in the dark
and baptized in white ash.
Light has to travel so far,
the night's acreage is vast.




The Rest

All night the rain has fallen alone
in the cleft that silence has cut.
While they carve my mother's stone
I try to hold my torn chest shut.

Rubbing soap and stone against skin
to wear this tired, sallow flesh down,
I wish the night were frightened
just once by its own hollow sound.

Roots know what to do in this dark,
blood sews rough sutures in my womb.
When I die, let the hard rain mark
whatever it wants on my tomb.

































AUTHOR BIO

Holly Woodward is a writer and an artist. This year, she is a fiction fellow at The Writers' Institute in Manhattan. Last year, she won the Rachel Wetzsteon prize at the Unterberg Poetry Center of the 92nd Street Y. Holly combines her words, calligraphy, and paintings into books.

POETRY CONTRIBUTORS

Melissa Adamo
Sylvia Ashby
Jane Blanchard
Patricia Bollin
Cathleen Calbert
Maryann Corbett
Eleanor Cory
Casey FitzSimons
Nicole Caruso Garcia
Claudia Gary
Edith Goldenhar
A. J. Huffman
Cambria Jones
Tamam Kahn
Jean L. Kreiling
Fiona Marshall
Holly Painter
Zara Raab
Andrea Witzke Slot
Linda Stern
Anne-Marie Thompson
Doris Watts
Holly Woodward

NEWS

Mezzo Cammin will celebrate its tenth anniversary at Poetry by the Sea: A Global Conference, on Thursday, May 28, from 3:15-4:30, Mercy by the Sea in Madison, CT. Please join us!

FEATURED ARTIST
Candy Chang: Meant as a singular experiment, the Before I Die project gained global attention and thanks to passionate people around the world, over 500 Before I Die walls have been created in over 70 countries, including Kazakhstan, Iraq, Haiti, China, Ukraine, Portugal, Japan, Denmark, Argentina, and South Africa.
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

Barefoot Muse Press
David Robert Books
David R. Godine Press
Graywolf Press
Headmistress Press
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Louisiana State University Press
Northwestern Univ Press
Ohio Univ Press
Persea Books
Red Hen Press
Texas Tech Univ Press
Tupelo Press
Univ of Akron Press
Univ of Arkansas Press
Univ of Illinois Press
Univ of Iowa Press
Waywiser Press
White Violet Press

BOOKS
Alibris
City Lights
Grolier Poetry Bookshop
Joseph Fox Bookshop
Prairie Lights
Tattered Cover Bookstore

OTHER RESOURCES
92nd Street Y
Literary Mothers
NewPages.com
Poets & Writers
10X10