Guest Author
Melissa Studdard - Writer, Poet, Professor, Editor and Talk Show Host
Tithing
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Om
He sent us flowers without a card, God did—that trickster soul. It must have been a sound that started it all, And he’s still out there somewhere, laughing While we seek directions, or direction, While we, the addressees, search for an addresser, While we sort and sift and categorize and collect, Divide, classify and analyze. Our refrigerators hum to us, And heaven knows the bugs make their merry at night. Once I even saw the color yellow hum When I imagined van Gogh stroking its thick, Vibrant passion onto the page. That yellow song was anything but hum-drum. I swear, I felt it on the roof of my mouth And at the back of my throat Like a yogic ritual or some sort of Tantric stunt. Even deep in my chest, yes, I felt the hum. And in the other room—the clothes in the washer, Round and around they went, their own spinning universe, And next to them, a parallel world, the dryer, Connected to the same outlet, Hum, hum, humming away. This life is anything but ho-hum, With all this motion and noise. Hell, I can hardly even hear over the hum of my phone, Which I have cursed for interference, Which I have indignantly labeled, “that silver piece of shit,” Which I have threatened to replace (like it cares), And which was really Om all along. Washing clothes, I’ve since learned, is an act of prayer. Melissa Studdard - Copyright 2011 - First published in Tiferet, then re-run in Red Fez, and forthcoming in the Hip Poetry anthology. |
Melissa Studdard's books include the bestselling novel Six Weeks to Yehidah, its companion jounal, My Yehidah, and the interview collection The Tiferet Talk Interviews. Since its August 2011 release, Six Weeks to Yehidah has been the recipient of many accolades, including the Forward National Literature Award, the Pinnacle Book Achievement Award and January Magazine's best children's books. It was also named a finalist for the National Indie Excellence Awards and the Readers Favorite Awards. As well, her poetry, fiction, essays, reviews, and articles have appeared in numerous magazines, journals, and anthologies. Melissa currently serves as a Reviewer-at-Large for The National Poetry Review, an editorial advisor for The Criterion, and an editor for Tiferet Journal, where she hosts the journal's radio interview program, Tiferet Talk. Melissa received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and is a professor for the Lone Star College System and a teaching artist for The Rooster Moans Poetry Cooperative.
www.melissastuddard.com
Author of Six Weeks to Yehidah and My Yehidah and Tiferet Talk Interviews
www.melissastuddard.com
Author of Six Weeks to Yehidah and My Yehidah and Tiferet Talk Interviews
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