Melinda Blount

defining poetry by describing those that peruse the art or others related to or understanding poetry
* Best of the Issue - January 2008 winner! *

We read poems in fistfuls. Culling out the weak, the strange
& make love to poets that speak
our language. Those guttural voices,
philosophical. The poets

who have placed the right emphasis on the word "fuck"
that is used profusely
when writing verse but it creates sensation

& what more can a poet ask for,
in a time when all words have already been spoken?


_*_


We can toss their names around; in poems, poetry readings, when passing strangers on the street
because we have lain with their words
rubbed them between our thighs & proliferated
from the result of their work.
We have fornicated with every loose vowel & strict stemmed consonant.
We have rolled in the refuse of their blunt ends.


_*_



Poets steal. Poets lie. Poets fuck strangers on street corners
to sell a couple lines to small print presses
& pretend our words
shall be tossed in an unkempt bed

& be made love to.



dance

We are tucked beneath
the rot
of one hundred
worthless words.
Martyrs of impossible
circumstance, we consumed
fig leaves
for inspiration
and came up sputtering.

You plastered my name
between splinters
on your headboard--
you, the master
of unfulfilled dreams

who sucked
out my marrow
as testament to all
I had to give.




Taught to worship
thin air
it was easy to love
a man who hid
his face
behind each of my breaths
counted and sent
like presents
and that day we laid
upon the deck
of a sinking ship

and fucked to the sound
of waves. I am

your broken fingers
wrapped on
the cord that let go

too soon
too damn soon
but man, could we dance.


Melinda Blount started writing poetry as a way to avoid finishing her novel. Alas, while the novel sits in the corner unpublished, her poetry has appeared in various online and print journals. Some of the more recent publications include the October issue of Thick with Conviction, Flutter Poetry Journal and, upcoming in March, Della Donna; a Webzine for Women. When she's not writing, Melinda is trying to avoid turning thirty.

 Current Issue:
January 2008

L. Ward Abel
Gary Beck
Melinda Blount
Chris Crittenden
Caitlin Crowley
Taylor Graham
Paul Hostovsky
Michael Keshigian
Corey Mesler
Tim Poland

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