Welcome to where I am, where my kitchen's always messy, a pot's (or a poet) always about to boil over, a dog is always begging to be fed. Drafts of poems on the counter. Windows filled with leaves. Wind. Clouds moving over the mountains. If you like poetry, books, and music--especially dog howls when a siren unwinds down the hill-- you'll like it here.


MY NEW AUTHOR'S SITE, KATHRYNSTRIPLINGBYER.COM, THAT I MYSELF SET UP THROUGH WEEBLY.COM, IS NOW UP. I HAD FUN CREATING THIS SITE AND WOULD RECOMMEND WEEBLY.COM TO ANYONE INTERESTED IN SETTING UP A WEBSITE. I INVITE YOU TO VISIT MY NEW SITE TO KEEP UP WITH EVENTS RELATED TO MY NEW BOOK.


MY NC POET LAUREATE BLOG, MY LAUREATE'S LASSO, WILL REMAIN UP AS AN ARCHIVE OF NC POETS, GRADES K-INFINITY! I INVITE YOU TO VISIT WHEN YOU FEEL THE NEED TO READ SOME GOOD POEMS.

VISIT MY NEW BLOG, MOUNTAIN WOMAN, WHERE YOU WILL FIND UPDATES ON WHAT'S HAPPENING IN MY KITCHEN, IN THE ENVIRONMENT, IN MY IMAGINATION, IN MY GARDEN, AND AMONG MY MOUNTAIN WOMEN FRIENDS.




Wednesday, February 25, 2009

LETHA



LETHA

Now when she weaves,
she weaves everything blue
and not only because blue does
not reveal earth’s stain
as homespun left unlaved by larkspur
or indigo will. She keeps blue flowers
boiling all day in her dye-pots,
the bubbly-blue sap
of her fleece turning darker
and darker till she sees the Deep
churning under his ship
as he told it those nights
when his words held him close
to her, whispering he was the only
survivor. He flung his tales wide
as fishing nets in which she finds
herself still tangled, hearing
him liken her eyes to the harbor
lights leading the seafarer home
to a fair woman’s bed
where the coverlets
she has unwound from her loom
bear the blue names
he taught her to say like a charm
against doubt. She repeats
whem with each shuttle’s throw,
knowing someday she’ll sleep
under all Seven Seas of them,
sleep as the drowned women
he liked to sing about sleep,
having sunk so deep
into the blue,
blue repose of forgetfulness,
they need have no mortal
fear of the bottom.

--KSB

First published in Shenandoah: Appalachian Writers Issue

1 comment:

karenh said...

Kathryn,
Wow is all I can say.