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NEW FEATURE:
Three poems by TERRY MULERT
curated by Susan McAllister
of Harwood Art Center and Harwood Review
Susan McAllister
has selected these poems in response to Scott Krichau's art
exhibit.
Let me explain
death, son
Don't
walk naked in the garden tonight
It's
Like Love
Terry
Mulert's bio
Let me explain death,
son
When you are
the willows
and their finches gladly in and out
of shadowy nests tangled deep
within blackberry brambles
and October hesitates
in the naked cold
red is the color
of your blood
before it touches air
yellow are the apples
in the dead man's field
how can all this
die?
who spreads this rumor of death?
looking at you
as you slip into a bath
I understand the meaning of torsos and toes
outside cows
wander through an icy fog
following the night rivers
finding each other and everything green
their horns shed into the broken grass
one day we wake
up
and the apples have fallen
some birds are flying south
and there is nothing to explain
Don't walk naked in the
garden tonight
Before light
the poppy blooms
and petals tremble in the breeze
people appear
out of warm beds
with sleep in
their pockets
and rain in their eyes
tomorrow
we expect to
harvest peaches and beans
and anything green that doesn't move.
It's Like Love
This morning
I saw the swirling
arrival of snowclouds gathering
a prayer around the neck
of sierra mosca
I remembered
the chicanery of rainbows
and their trout returning to the blood
and feathers of snowbanks
somewhere the
sun slowly arced
across the firmament with no meanning
touching his
naked feet
I carry a boy
fresh from a sleep world
into the dark kitchen
to boil water
waiting for dawn
he says its still night
and we curl up in a chair
to read about trucks
it's easy to
pass through
these portals of instinct
without ever knowing
the smell of hair.
Terry Mulert began writing
and publishing poetry in 1980, and he has continued to pursue
this art through readings, performances and publication in literary
journals. In May of 2003, one of his poems was selected as an
award poem by Plainsongs; a critical essay accompanies
its publication. Recently, Mulert's poems have appeared (or are
forthcoming) in The Lilliput Review, Mudfish,
Mid-American Poetry Review, The Madison Review,
Puerto del Sol, The Chiron Review, and
others.
Mulert has lived
in Cordova, New Mexico, for the last 15 years where he earns
a living as a wood sculptor, working in both contemporary and
traditional styles. He and his wife Paula Castillo (painter and
sculptor) operate their own gallery there. His most recent chapbook,
called Facing Chalk, is published by his own small press.
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