Welcome to National Poetry Month and Gyroscope Review’s month-long celebration of poets – and their diverse Writing Assistants. Enjoy the audio/video works by previous Gyroscope Review poets and be sure to check out the Author and fun Writing Assistant Bio at the end of each NPM poet post. Don’t forget to tag the poet on Social Media and let them know you enjoyed their work!
He asked what the implications would be
He asked what the implications would be if we were to love each other. I said planetarium I said hubris I said expulsion— I could see how the tenor of our time would be about eating an apple, spitting out the seeds, it was the way he didn’t care for poetry, the way he whispered in his sleep. Why would I pet a donkey when the mare was out to pasture? The vowels would leave my mouth before I’d had enough time to express the brilliance of a plum, sweet and sour on the tongue. I want you to know I had good intentions, he could be kind, and all his planets were rising with Jupiter’s rings, it’s just that the panic attacks wouldn’t cease until I was alone, pacing the living room, searching for stars, snow landing on a branch. I called a council of angels, and do you know they appeared with harps and lyres? But they didn’t play that night, they only blew a north wind over our dark sky. Dawn made every omen clear. The angels meant to help. Published by Pedestal Magazine
On driving all night to find the shaman who will help me &
On driving all night to find the shaman who will help me & then I breathe, draughts of air in my lungs, a $30 white t-shirt wet with dew, I bought from a store with a blue awning, down the street from where I live by the ocean, I am far from there now; the awning gray-blue like any sky at dawn, & now it snows & snows, a hand in the air conjures a different scent, sweet like juniper & cold like rosemary, but today clouds clamp the trees in a silver wrap with no loose ends, here in the mountains where sweat evaporates from my neck, I’ve come to heal, my mind is split— there’s the me & the child me who is screaming & terror rides us both into a numb frenzy, the shaman holds my head in her arms, There now, I got you. Sage burns. Let it out, she says, terror must have its day, & by that she means repressed terror, & by that she means for me to take up more space than I ever have before while coyotes wild against the stars, wet fur & fangs—we are all howling together, & now a clearing, a quiet so dark the black sky lays out the cosmos as if I belonged to something majestic, instead of twisted on the floor remembering what I never wanted to forget, the child by the door, it never should have happened, when he stole her light. Published by Cultural Daily
WRITING ASSISTANT BIO
Izobel Bio – I go by Izzy most of the time, though when I’m in warrior mode, I’m Izobel. I like treats. Especially if they are thrown across the room and I have to hunt them down. I have two siblings that I tolerate. I love poetry and as she writes, I sit by her side and offer suggestions. I have my own cat bed corner on the desk, otherwise I’d sit on her hands as she types. Life is good.
AUTHOR BIO
Alicia Elkort’s first book of poetry, A Map of Every Undoing was published in 2022 by Stillhouse Press with George Mason University, after winning their book contest. Alicia’s poetry has been nominated several times for the Pushcart, Best of the Net, and the Orison Anthology and her work appears in numerous journals and anthologies. She reads for Tinderbox Poetry Journal and works as a Life Coach in Santa Fe, NM. For more info or to watch her two video poems: Alicia’s Website
Don’t forget to read the Spring 2024 Issue of Gyroscope Review.
NPM 2024 Poets
April 1 – Cal Freeman
April 2 – Susanna Lang
April 3 – Marion Brown
April 4 – Melissa Huff
April 5 – Elaine Sorrentino
April 6 – Alison Stone
April 7 – Alexandra Fössinger
April 8 – Laurie Kuntz
April 9 – Dick Westheimer
April 10 – Wendy McVicker
April 11 – J.I. Kleinberg
April 12 – Ellen Austin-Li
April 13 – D. Dina Friedman
April 14 – Connie Post
April 15 – Georgina Key
April 16 – Judith McKenzie
April 17 – Jacqueline Jules
April 18 – Amanda Hayden
April 19 – Lisa Zimmerman
April 20 – Richard Jordan
April 21 – Beth Kanell
April 22 – Kari Gunter-Seymour
April 23 – Jane Edna Mohler
April 24 – Susan Cummins Miller
April 25 – Kathleen Wedl
April 26 – Judy Kronenfeld
April 27 – Claudia M. Reder
April 28 – Tresha Faye Haefner
April 29 – Alicia Elkort