31 Mar Two poems by Robin Lee Jordan
Youth, No. 4
crunch of what breath
what trite death
you are moonless
you are spinning
and then
you stop
ants splotch
your otherwise
umbilical existence
without sister
without spider
without breasts to burden
she is dirt on cricket wing
the un-clatter
of a wheat field
before it ripens
coyote coughing
a fetal purr
a cooing
a did-you-see
clear your throat
what you don’t
hear is the sick
thread that holds
us close
#4: Ritual Collaborator: Adam Drury
Old Age, No 10
you will not count
the tidy years
you’ll pocket
desert moonlight
dip a finger
into a pond
and it will pink
this feels right
you’ll think
a fish fisted
handshake
a paisley flash
flown
cold bead plucked
from something
you didn’t used to be
hurry
hurry
hurry
every wrong decision
will lead here too
all the things
i won’t have
said to you
uncertainties
you always
knew
welcome to the only place
you’ve never been
it keeps going
you’ll brighten
you’re brightening
#10: Ritual Collaborators: Adam Drury, Megan Kyle, Jesse Miller, & Maria Maxfield
About the Poet
Robin Lee Jordan is a poet, teaching artist, zine-maker, & collage-based visual artist with an interest in multimodal, interactive, & collaborative creation. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Oregon State University and wrote the chapbooks Morning Blessing Poems (Foundlings Press) and THEY ATE EACH OTHER UP (Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs). She occasionally maintains the (B)uffalo (A)rt (D)ispensary, a coin-operated, micro-art dispenser. Robin has worked with Just Buffalo since 2012 as a teaching artist and now acts as the Director of Just Buffalo’s Writing Center, a creative writing program for teens.
These two poems were produced through a process of a series collaborative artmaking rituals inspired by the paintings of 20th century Swedish visual artist Hilma af Klint that Jordan organized with friends. They will be part of a libretto for an opera Jordan is composing with her friend, MET opera singer Maria Maxfield and her partner, guitarist, Adam Drury. The libretto will also be a chapbook published by Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs.
Related Event
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- Robin Lee Jordan will join poets Brenda Iijima and Janice Lee for an evening of readings at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 2nd at Just Buffalo Literary Center, 468 Washington St., 2nd floor, in Buffalo. Books by all three poets will be available for purchase at the reading from Fitz Books. .
The Poem of the Week feature is curated by literary legacy awardee R.D. Pohl.