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Grace
Marie Grafton’s
first published poem came out in 1974 under her former name,
Grace Wade. She has published regularly in literary
magazines and anthologies in intervening years, was twice
nominated for a Pushcart Prize, won first place in The
Bellingham Review annual contest, and once reached finalist
status for Nimrod ’s Pablo Neruda Prize. Her work has
been published in: Coracle, crack, Rendezvous, Third
Coast, convolvulus, Poetry Flash, Xanadu, and in.tense,
among others. In addition, work is forthcoming
in winter 2001 in syllogism and Runes.
Her
chapbook, ZERO, which won the 2000 Poetic Matrix Press contest,
may be ordered from Poetic Matrix Press, P.O. Box 1223,
Madera, CA 93639. Her book, VISITING SISTERS, featuring
poems inspired by the artwork of contemporary women, was
published in 2001 by Coracle Books, and may be ordered from
Coracle Books, 1516 Euclid Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94708 or
emai Editor@Coracle.org.
Ms.
Grafton works with CA Poets In The Schools, teaching elementary
school students to write poetry. In 1998, she was
awarded Teacher of the Year by the River of Words annual
youth poetry contest, cosponsored by Robert Hass. Finding
the Words, her booklet for the aspiring writer (age
10 and up), is available for purchase from Dragonfly Editions,
65 Wool St., San Francisco, CA 94110.
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See
other poems:
Email
Grace Grafton at GMGrafton@aol.com
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The butterflies
in the stomach
settle and fold their wings for the night
The
yellow platter is full of chewed bones.
Part of the long evening enters
the August room, silver.
And with the oblique
nature of silver’s indirect music,
the light inserts quiet under the diners’
skulls. It smooths the talk
to colors and the passing of old photographs
hand to hand, some of them
dancers up on their toes, or the shaven
scenes of family lawns without family present.
The strict drops of Yosemite’s cliffs
in black and white.
Watching light change into night
is now a necessity for me,
how mouths and hands become lines and
white lotuses floating, how one of
those toe dancers descends, unrushed,
down the face of Half Dome,
blowing kisses to the trees
and everything seems normal.
Butterflies...
appears in ZERO, and was first published in Third Coast.
Copyright © Grace Grafton.
from:
To be healed
2. The nature of ecstasy is unworldly
The
edge of the datura petal -
concentrated contrast, sharp
divide where is becomes is not:
slices a line through perception.
Two faces of the sky.
The datura blossom stinks
yet your face drops closer,
seeing how the line
dips, rises, coils out to a thin
point then plunges back to expanse.
Hanky of the moon
blooming in gopher-runnelled fields.
Careful where you step, the ground’s
unstable. Datura leaves,
some odd green of the sea
churning in mixed weather.
From
a section from the long poem, "To be healed," which
appears in VISITING SISTERS.
Copyright © Grace Grafton
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