In May of this year, Susie Timmons read with Maureen Owen at the Poetry Project. Maureen lives in Colorado, and is almost never in New York, and Susie is a poet one reads more than sees so the Project was packed, and everybody including me was there to hear them.
In 2015, Wave Books published a collected of three earlier books by Susie Timmons called Superior Packets. In the Vimeo below, she reads from two of them, Hog Wild (1979) and Locked From the Outside (1990.) Enjoy.
I’ve typed out a few poems—just for the wonderful fun of it—from Superior Packets including three from The New Old Paint (2010), the book that Susie didn’t read from at the Project. Again, enjoy.
…
From HOG WILD
GOD IS LOVE
Boon companions hung lanterns
in tall palm on a reef, and
when ships came crashing in
looted them.
God is love, angel baby
and morning star
dream city of romance, deft shadings,
Normandy in a bathing suit.
I haven’t any religion
but I thought what I did
the other night was not wrong.
Precious had a colt
which Betty promptly named
sugar sweetheart honey darling.
from LOCKED FROM THE OUTSIDE
A FORM OF PRAISE
The empty wrapper of an angel is asking me
if I’m ready
Go to your window
now take a piece of the sun pie.
from THE NEW OLD PAINT
I WILL TELL
I will tell of my aspirations
philosophy of self-improvement
transitory metaphor
continuous thought
contrasting grand
with down to earth
social settings
embarrassing situations
humble tombstones
an unusual acquaintance
a prayer to the authorities
a plea.
A narrative or tale in sense only
a bird detached from the huge heap
of information over on the side.
flies up. grackle. sits on branch with
leaves, sings. Rocks.
RUSSIAN FOLK SONGS
I have no mother,
I have no father,
I was born from the street
Was born from a chicken egg
………………………..
As we float on a stinking lake
I kiss your slimy lips
and you hold me close to your hairy chest
………………………..
Mary, Mary, your legs are so white and lovely
let us watch while you wash them in the river
Be quiet, you noisy geese! My mother-in-law
is asleep beneath that bush.
POEM
Days are short
windows are cold
thoughts of love
go round and round
in my head
they say
that man is a bee,
the woman a flower
but I think you and me
are like a train station in the sun
Superior Packets is published by Wave Books. You can check it out here:
https://www.wavepoetry.com/products/superior-packets
Susie Timmons