Sherry Chandler » Tears in the Fence
Tears in the Fence
Back in July and August, David Caddy, editor of Tears in the Fence, and I had a rather extended e-mail correspondence, trying to find a poem of mine that merited publication in the magazine. David said he liked my poems but “the narrative angles … tend to close rather than open into the world of the poem.”
I am still thinking over the implications of that statement for my body of work.
In the end we settled on a poem called “Ice Storm, February 2003″ that I had pretty much given up as a failure in which I had attempted something beyond my skill or perhaps beyond my intellectual/spiritual depth. The occasion of the poem was receding rapidly into the past and I had very nearly relegated it to the status of somewhat overworked journal entry.
Still the poem was important to me – as are all my attempts at poems – and I was pleased to think that it had meaning for some one else. I hope David was pleased too.
The poem is in the current issue of Tears in the Fence: Number 42 for autumn 2005, along with a number of other poems that spiral outward, some fine short stories, and some excellent essays/reviews.
Some samplings:
Shieling
The tumbled stones are not enough
to tell you more than we were here.
Your trowels discover nothing:
we ate, had beds, used clay, chased deer,
else we would have died too soon
to make the burnt and broken ground
that’s left — though you’d prefer a text.
Without, you forget our games, our song,
our joy, love, grief, our enmity,
guess we growled in bestial ignorance….— Grahaeme Barrasford Young
Mr. Young lives in the West Highlands of Scotland and a “shieling,” says the American Heritage, is a a shepherd’s hut.
The Aphrodisiac Effects of Power
When you’ve got it, grabbed
hold of everything you ever wanted,
mainlined it,
machined it to perfection
each bone, muscle, nerve,
restructured that over-powering mass
of brain matter
so even the untrained eye can see,
even the dullest mind know
you have won…
Tears in the Fence is published in the United Kingdom. Subscriptions are £15 a year, single issues £6. Subscription requests and U.S. submissions may be sent to Deane Laczi, 805 South 9th Street, Lafayette IN 47905.
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