It’s such a treat to have my work published in this wonderful magazine.
Poetry
I have become a hermit.
I loved the lockdown, the shelter in place.
I found that masking pleased me,
And avoiding crowded places
Came natural to me.
I’m not much of a baker, so
I started by organizing things.
Like-objects in one place.
All the colorful paper clips,
Empty notebooks, pens
All going the same way in the plastic box,
All my pencils,
Freshly sharpened, of course.
I wanted to be useful, so I learned to crochet,
But it didn’t suit me.
Maybe it was being useful
That didn’t suit me.
I ordered in because
I was comfortable with it, after living in New York.
Every Thursday, a new basket of food.
I even tried senior shopping
But the sight of all those frightened old people
Wasn’t sustainable.
I didn’t go back.
Then I started tidying seriously,
Lingering over the things that used to spark joy
Before throwing them away.
It’s only now I can speak about it.
I’ve become a hermit.
Tidying is a way of life,
A manner of being.
I’ve told everyone
I need to control my environment,
So I stick to my new routine of tidying
And it takes the place of accomplishing.
The dishes are all clean, the yard is all clean,
The garage is all clean,
The basement is all clean.
I’ve cleaned the closets again and again.
I make the bed.
I throw out more paper,
Give more things away.
All of my yarn is sorted by color now,
Like my paper clips.
All the hangers face the same way in the closet,
All the coffee cup handles in the cupboard.
If I sort out the small things,
Maybe the big things will not matter as much.
I’ve found that there are not a lot of big things
To a hermit.
Please join us April 14 in South Bend, Indiana, for a celebration of local poets and writing in Michiana.
We will have books for sale from The Backpack Press! Can’t wait? Can’t make it to SB? Look up top – My Bookstore has them all.
If you would like to try any of these books, please visit my bookstore – on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Anne-Born/e/B015EJGPXW
If you would like signed copies, let me know and I will be happy to send you one – or more! Write to bpackpress@gmail.com
If you have a book club that might be interested in reading with a talkback, I would be delighted to visit!
And look for the new TweedPod poscasts on TumbleweedPilgrim.com – stories of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Coming up shortly!
Greetings Writers!
One of the things I love about finding a writing community is the feedback and encouragement we get from each other. Writing can be a lonely road, but it’s much more enjoyable with someone by our side.
I am available to help get that book out of the drawer and into the hands of your readers.
Email me if you are interested. We can Video Chat or meet up in NYC. Short sessions to get you started or a series of 4-6 to keep you on track. And, if you are ready to go, but need an objective read to catch typos and errors, let me know – I love making sure the final draft is in fact the final draft.
Please let me know what YOU need! I’ve been working with essayists, short fiction writers, cover designers, and poets for the past two years and want to open up to new writers now. I can also help you write ad copy.
The first 15 minutes is on me. After that, $60/hr with a 20-minute min.
Anne Born
bpackpress@gmail.com
No photos in this one, just a wholehearted appreciation of New York! Poems, narratives, observations and stories. On Amazon AND Kindle! #LocalColor
Just a quick heads up – pub date is April 14, 2017!
VIDEO
With the help of Empyre Media Productions, we produced a short film, featuring three of the contributing authors to These Summer Months, to give you all a glimpse of the wonderful variety of our work. A quick shout-out to Empyre Media Productions for their expertise. Look for it here!
PODCAST
Two 15-minute podcasts are up on Our Salon Radio. Featuring the editor and contributing author, Anne Born, the podcasts will be a chance to get better acquainted with The Late Orphan Project and both anthologies: These Winter Months and These Summer Months. Look for “Born in the Bronx” here.
OPEN MICS
Inspired Word NYC has developed a series of events to highlight the upcoming Queens Lit Fest in Long Island City, April 29 and 30, 2017. Look for editor Anne Born with Inspired Word NYC, reading from her new book of poems written on the NYC subway: Turnstiles.
Thrilled to announce a new poetry collection. Published today in solidarity with the Women’s March on Washington.
https://www.createspace.com/6198995
Wake me with stillness in the morning.
Start the coffee, let the water run cold.
No need to measure out the beans into the grinder,
the water to the pot.
It’s a day to be reckless, starting softly.
I will pay attention to the measure later,
But not now.
The sun lights up the fire escape copper and slips across the Concourse, splashing up against the Courthouse gold, the wave smacking the sides of the elevated train silver snaking across my horizon.
For just a few minutes, I’ll drink the coffee,
As if nothing amazing were going on outside.
There’s a ritual to making a bed.
The headboard tall aginst the wall,
A pattern of walking around: from left side to foot to right side to foot to left side and back.
Smoothing out the sheets,
Tugging up the blankets,
Still smoothing.
Placing the chenille bedspread just so, the pillows can be hid.
It’s as if the whole exercise were to confound the viewer to think nobody’d slept there;
That this was never a place of vulnerability, of fragile dreams, of terrible fears,
Nobody’d lay awake, turning and pulling
Against the too tight tucked in linens.
Walking around, side following side,
Left, foot, right, foot, left, foot, right,
Footfalls in place,
Creating a dry moat in pattern around a preserved and austere,
But empty castle keep.
Come in to find shelter,
Come in to take rest,
You are the first,
No one of your kind before.
And at daybreak, leave no trace you’d ever been here.
Make the bed.
The Backpack Press 