Thursday, November 14, 2024

GAS Featured Poet: Patrice Boyer Claeys

Patrice Boyer Claeys is a Chicago poet with five published collections, most recently two photo-verse books in collaboration with photographer Gail Goepfert (Honey from the Sun and Earth Cafeteria). Her work has appeared in numerous journals, including Tupelo Quarterly, North Dakota Review, Burningword Literary Review, NELLE, and Blue Earth Review. She enjoys writing centos, a patchwork form in which the combined chorus of other poets' voices amplifies her own to elevate familiar subjects. Patrice has been nominated for Best of Net and Pushcart Prizes. More info at www.patriceboyerclaeys.com.


Unwanted 

gold clusters

on the grass.

 

Wild green shoots

aspire upward

 

become the lion

sunwheels relaxed in wide

offering—

 

over time

transforming into pearl puffs

and fine, ashen fluff

 

dispersing into wind

like bursting pillows

of moonlight and dust

or

torn webs of shadows. 


Cento sources:  Mary-Kim Arnold, Amy Lowell, Kirill Medvedev, Hershman John, Peter Hargitai, Tracy Brimhall, May Swenson, Arden Levine, Martha Collins, Semja Brown, Denis Johnston, Jennifer Forester, Joyce Sidman, Helen Mort, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Helene Johnson

 


Deep Code 

There is a fan

the sweet but sharp edges

a sword thrust

 

then

a stem

stands fast

with all the grace and power

of

a saint or a great

queen.

 

Rainbowed amethyst, azure, blue

petals   

collapse in flounces

intricately ribboned like a secret

deep code

 

telling the bees

the beautiful

history of its heart.  

    

Cento Sources: C. D. Wright, William Saphier, Matt Rassmussen, Melvin Tolson, Ciaran Carson, Henry van Dyke, Anita Endrezze, Jana Prikryl, Derek Mahon, J. M. Synge, Sylvia Legris, Amy Lowell, Rae Armantrout, Ellen Bass, John Coletti, Lizette Woodworth Reese, Kirill Medvedev, Robert Pinsky





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