Sally Nacker
A Poem's in a Blade of Grass
A poem's in a blade of grass.
As a little girl, this I found
before I knew I knew the grass
or how a poem comes to pass.
I heard a quiet, whistling sound
of poems in the blades of grass.
I came to learn my own compass
by sound around me on the ground.
I knew, I knew, I knew the grass,
the green blades, the widening mass
of hymns, or prayers, on every mound.
A poem's in a blade of grass.
I turn my ear to nature's Mass,
recalling how the subtle sound—
before I knew I knew the grass—
awoke me to a holiness,
before I wrote the sound I found
in poems in the blades of grass,
before I knew I knew the grass.
Winter Boughs
In stillness I wake slow
to the slow return of sorrow.
I study from my window
white boughs drooping low.
A fluffed out little sparrow
sings in the icy glow.
Its song climbs with crescendo
up through the falling snow,
softens my grief, opens, allows,
wakes me to beauty in the boughs.
A Visit to Fort Juniper
—Amherst home of late poet, Robert Francis (1901-1987)
I sat inside his little house
all built out of hurricane pine.
Trees that had fallen in the gales
became his shelter, his design.
The house stands as the poet lived:
low to the ground, safe from high wind.
The house has windows on four sides
to view outside, and to view in.
I went to sense the solitude
the poet found there near the woods;
the solace and the quietude.
Sometimes he would not speak for days;
his sound was all within himself.
The poems found their way within,
the poems found their own way out.
A room for sleep, a small kitchen,
is all he built, all he needed,
and one room warmed by a fire's glow.
Sitting in his small wood home, I
knew I was meant to come. I know.
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The most recent addition to The Mezzo Cammin Women Poets Timeline is Jane Kenyon by Susan Spear.
Gail White and Nausheen Eusuf are the recipients of the 2017 Mezzo Cammin Scholarships to the Poetry by the Sea conference.
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| Alice Mizrachi is a New York based interdisciplinary artist working in the mediums of painting, installation, murals and socially engaged art. Her work explores the interconnectedness of individuals and community through the dual lens of compassion and empathy. Through figurative work that reinforces both personal and community-oriented identity, Alice aims to inspire creative expression and a sense of shared humanity through art.
Alice has worked as an arts educator for nearly twenty years for a variety of organizations including BRIC Arts, The Laundromat Project and The Studio Museum in Harlem. As a pioneer in the field of socially engaged art at the local level, Alice has been recognized and selected to develop arts education curriculum for organizations such as HI-ARTS (Harlem, NY), Dr. Richard La Izquierdo School and Miami Light Project. She has also been a panelist discussing community-engaged art for events at Brown University and The Devos Institute of Arts Management.
As a painter, Alice maintains both a studio practice and an extensive body of work as a muralist. Her work have been featured in exhibitions at the Museum of the City of New York, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, UN Women and the Museum of Contemporary Art in DC. She has been commissioned as a mural artist for projects in Amsterdam, Berlin, Tel Aviv, and across the United States by organizations and museum including: Knox-Albright Museum, Buffalo, NY; Worcester DCU (Worcester, Massachusettes); Wall Therapy (Rochester, NY); La Mama and Fourth Arts Block (NYC); Miami Light Project (Miami, FL); and, Chashama (Harlem, NY), among others.
Alice's mural and installation work has been constructed in galleries and public spaces as part of site-specific arts education and community development projects. Her work often engages local neighborhoods and reflects positive visual responses to social issues. Her process activates a shared space of love, hope, optimism and healing as a means to connect with participants. Frequent topics include identity, unity, migration and the sacred feminine.
Alice and her art have been featured in a variety of publications including the book, 2Create, Outdoor Gallery: New York City, the New York Times, and Huffington Post and The Architectural Digest. She has a BFA from Parsons School of Design and was an instructor at the School of Visual Arts in 2015. Alice was also the co-founder of Younity, an international women's art collective active from 2006-2012. She has received grants from The Puffin Foundation and The Ford Foundation. Her recent projects include a residency in Miami with Fountainhead, a residency with Honeycomb Arts In Buenos Aires and a mural with The Albright Know Museum in Buffalo. Alice currently holds a studio space at The Andrew Freedman Home in the Bronx. Her upcoming projects include a workshop/ panel at Brown University and a book release in Summer 2017.
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