Picture of cranes in Atlanta. Taken by me on 20 April, 2023.
Thanks to Red Focks, Editor of Alien Buddha Press, who has accepted my poem, "Cranes," inspired by the view above, for the June issue of Alien Buddha Zine. The cranes seem so sure of themselves. But I had recently had a kind of dream / vision of a black elevator, seen from above, traveling way too fast down the shaft, and that seemed to symbolize forces opposing the cranes' confidence. Looking at the them and thinking of the elevator vision, I saw a metaphor for our technologically advanced culture teetering on the precipice of apocalyptic destruction. And so, a poem was born.
At the time, I was walking the Beltline in Atlanta to pass the time while my bow was being rehaired. The Beltline has all sorts of magical art, and a few minutes after I observed the cranes, I came on an ornately carved and painted bench with a tiny red door in it. This is part of aproject called Tiny Doors Atlanta. It is an enchanting piece, so of course it had to be part of the poem, too--neither over-confident cranes nor elevator disaster, but a passage, perhaps to a third way.
A tiny door in an ornate bench on the Beltline in Atlanta. Taken by me, 20 April 2023.
In other news, I am honored that David L O'Nan at Fevers of the Mind, plans to anthologize my "Three Poems About the Grand Canyon," which I wrote about here. I encourage you to look into what David O'Nan and Red Focks are doing with their respective literary enterprises. There is a lot of interesting work besides mine in their publications. Happy reading!
Grand Canyon. Taken by Me. Dec. 2021.
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