Hi Friends,
Today's selection comes to you from the only poet I know to be honored
with a combination live boxing match and poetry reading — held on January 15, 2010, at the Hartford Club of Hartford, Connecticut, and concluding with a bout between Sammy Vega, a seven-time national amateur champion, and Mike "Machine Gun" Oliver, a reigning New England and
Eastern Boxing Association junior featherweight champion. The occasion
was a return visit from Connecticut native Gabrielle Calvocoressi,
touring with her new boxing-infused poetry collection Apocalyptic Swing — which is a finalist for the Los Angeles Book Awards to be announced tonight. Good luck, Gaby!
You can also hear Garrison Keillor read Gaby's poem "Jubilee" on The Writer's Almanac.
Cheers,
Ellen
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Jubilee
Come down to the water. Bring your snare drum,
your hubcaps, the trash can lid. Bring every
joyful noise you've held at bay so long.
The fish have risen to the surface this early
morning: flounder, shrimp, and every blue crab
this side of Mobile. Bottom feeders? Please.
They shine like your Grandpa Les' Cadillac,
the one you rode in, slow so all the girls
could see. They called to you like katydids.
And the springs in that car sounded like tubas
as you moved up and down. Make a soulful sound
unto the leather and the wheel, praise the man
who had the good sense to build a front seat
like a bed, who knew you'd never buy a car
that big if you only meant to drive it.
Labels: Calvocoressi, NPM