McCarra / Poetry

Publication forthcoming in "Chronogram" -- February 2012

2012-01-27T06:39:00.000-08:00

MaryAnn's poem, "Break Room" will appear in the February 2012 issue of Chronogram magazine. It is distributed widely in the Hudson Valley, NY area....and one may subscribe as well....

Check them out online at:

http://www.chronogram.com

Chronogram is the Mid-Hudson magazine of events and ideas, featuring arts, culture and spirit, all year long. Get 12 monthly issues delivered to your door for $60 (US).

314 Wall Street
Kingston, NY 12401

Slipknot

2012-01-24T08:09:00.000-08:00

and do not go from me she said,
and do not go from me though
the days tick off quick as a
metronome

she wraps her hands around his
throat, arranging his scarf
until it winds, blue-grey, snaking, below the
slate of his eyes, lash-fringed black

last night she dreamt he
died, and, with him, her heart,
lost like a balloon into the
blank copybook sheet above

the Grand Concourse, dissolved
as in a salt-sea, a bird-speck
against grey and
no one to be called at all

Crockery

2012-01-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

those stolid matrons, beef
to the heel, arranging their
crockery, pensive at a
certain sound or the

gold bars of light falling, crossways,
striping the carpet, finally fading
as the car door slams, hollow, and
eyes, onion-stung, survey

the dinner upon that field
of flowers, bluebells here, then
hollyhocks, then poppies bleeding
to the edge of the plate

marked with a pattern-name
and date, twice-fired, vitrified
to withstand the heat and the
damage of cutlery clattering, the

accidental touch in the kitchen, too,
as the moon rises up, a single,
unblinking eye
espying the bones, sucked dry of their marrow,
piled high, scraps and leavings of
another day gone past

Renovations

2012-01-24T07:44:00.000-08:00

this heat drains him--she is surprised
to hear him say--yet she has her
own catalogue of ills, those
nights spent sleepless, gazing upon
the bright-numeraled clock, counting the hours until
we dash, again, into the fray, empty-
handed, naked as newborns

the strands of silver, too, brushed at
dawn, the knees that ache upon ascending
a stairwell, migraine tablets grasped
as curtains are drawn tightly together

so time hurries on and we are
not as we were in those
fondly remembered
days and evenings past

one hand scours away while the
other builds up, always laying a
new foundation or a
fresh coat of paint,
addressing the damages done by
time weathering on--he winks at
us and smiles--
he has seen it all before

Arcadian Days

2012-01-24T07:35:00.000-08:00

immortal past, unfolded like
the origami from his
pockets, those squares, rectangles,
triangles of white, wordthick,
insulating him from the cold,

his love hanging like a lei
around his neck, between them
the blossoms yellow, sickly sweet,
an old memory pressed
between the sheets

of a volume left in her mailbox, the
note post-dated while
icicle-teeth, jagged, hang down from
the eaves as if to consume her whole,
blood, brain and gristle

three automobiles, tarpshrouded, in
blue, black, tan, flap, flap, in the
sudden breath of wind strained through tree-
limbs, morse code of heat ticking up
from the furnace, a red sky tonight

their arms entwined now, as roots overgrown
thick with moss, velvet green, his gloved
hand in hers, twisting her ring, the circle
broken by stones mined in those
carefully-footnoted arcadian days

Poems published in "Clapboard House"

2011-12-31T22:19:00.000-08:00

Several poems published in "Clapboard House" including:

Page Turner (Can One Trust the Narrator?)

Fleetwood Bridge

Artifacts

Lost and Found Again

and

Garland

Many thanks to "Clapboard House" for featuring these poems of mine on their website! Check them out at:

http://clapboardhouse.wordpress.com/poetry/maryann-mccarra-fitzpatrick/

Announcing -- "Ramblings" Just published!!!!

2011-12-15T18:47:00.000-08:00

Via Toni-Ann Caserta Buckley, whose son, Jesse, has just published his first volume of poetry........

Ramblings

Authored by Jesse Ruben Buckley III

This book is the result of years of thoughts, ideas, and ramblings of a self-described
imaginative-scientist-author-poet who taught himself to read around the age of two.

A light read, that contains surprising insight into the world of the young through the eyes of a highly gifted child.

It is highly recommended to parents, teachers, and anyone who share in the wonderment of a child.

Publication Date:Dec 10 2011
ISBN/EAN13:1468040219 / 9781468040210
Page Count:78
Binding Type:US Trade
PaperTrim Size:6" x 9"
Language:English
Color:Black and White
Related Categories:Poetry / General

Poem, "Transfer" published on The Mom Egg website

2011-11-22T11:53:00.001-08:00

http://www.themomegg.com

Poem: "Transfer" published online on the "Vox Mom" page of The Mom Egg website.....check it out!

http://www.themomegg.com/themomegg/Blog/Entries/2011/11/20_VOX_MOM__Mary_Ann_McCarra__Transfer.html

Sunday, November 20, 2011
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Transfer

by Mary Ann McCarra

transfer, held damply in her
hand, the snow melting
where her cap (nearly)
met her coat, her scarf
left where (behind), shed
like the skin of a snake,
useless as an escape tool,
however jauntily it was wrapped,
the pantone color the blue
of a Mediterranean summer
once seen in a postcard, the
demarcation of blue and
white wavering beneath her eyes

and her feet ache, now, in the
warmth of the bus, the slow
thawing an agony she distracts
herself from by repeating one
line, then the next, as
regular as the telephone
poles she passes, one, then
another, the marking points
of distance, as chatter
rises and falls the bus
creaks in protest, the
recirculation of exhaust, thick
and tarry, makes her
drowse...

so many miles to go, on her way
to a new habitat

McCarra/Poetry will be syndicated on the website "Before It's News"

2011-11-02T09:36:00.000-07:00

Just a note to say that future posts featured here will now be syndicated on the website "Before It's News."

Check out their website:http://beforeitsnews.com/

Cheers,

MaryAnn

http://beforeitsnews.com/

Lacrime

2011-09-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

the jars are lined up on his windowsill,
swelling, so, with her tears, from that first
morning, so blue-skied we did not think
of the crowds, ash-white, ghostlike, streaming

through the streets as alarums wailed and we all
--held our breath--these deaths, so unlike
any others, graved upon our minds, the shapes,
too, of their forms, falling from the sky,

angels touching earth as cats fought over
scraps in an alley and the accordion pleats
of her greywool skirt fell open to reveal...what...she
will not tell--the tolling of the bells takes

her mind to another place, that field of blue
and black, the pipes cry, over and again the
flags unfurl, and the tears that would
fill an ocean, an ocean, wet her hands

once again, the floor unsteady beneath her
feet, fingers trembling to their tips, and
she, undone entirely, unmoored, floats
from the ninety-seventh floor to rest upon a

common curb, sepulchral white, smoke-
dusted, stunned, walking away, away, forever
away--and still, there. His hands thread
through her hair still, she feels it so.

McCarra/Poetry reading, via "Podsnack"

2011-08-22T11:54:00.000-07:00

<b>http://www.podsnack.com/playlists/5a20a34196d7daa6fdc3284bfa945333

Click on the title of this post to hear the reading recorded on 22nd August 2011.....

Poetry reading: "Calculations (Summer)" -- "In Summer" -- "Eclipse" -- "Telling the Bees" -- "Doughboy" -- "Make Haste" -- "Taxonomy" -- "Painting" -- "Ever-Expanding America" -- "Torch Song"

Cheers,

MaryAnn

Painting

2011-08-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

a bright sunny butter-yellow for
the kitchen, then, and
an apple-red for the
reading room

she counts the paint pots off
in her head, two, four, six,
imagining prising their lids off to
reveal the thickcream of
colors stirred with a
ruler, spread with roller,
daubed with brush, to
create that distinct
palette, the warmth and
cool reflecting back through
all the seasons as they pass
(as they will pass)

from the white hoar-frost of
winter to the new-green of
spring, the gold-red of
fall, the parched brown, too,
of summer lawns, new-mowed, as

the children call, each to
each, she listens to their
voices, seeking to single out
her own

Ever-Expanding America

2011-08-18T11:55:00.000-07:00

ever-expanding America, yes,
we'll see the USA in your
Chevrolet, sky blue, reflecting
all our tomorrows, ticked

off on her fingers, halfway
between sleep and wakefulness
as she tries to discern how
many colors your irises are

comprised of, surprising how
they change in the light, with
your temper, too,

mid-afternoon now, she packs
and repacks, discarding this

and that for other, more
practical items, the compass,
the light, the water, the
oil, hoping they will last these

next dark nights

Torch Song

2011-08-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

two embers burning beneath
the kitchen window, smoke
redolent of tobacco and
days long past slip in, unwanted
but not unnoticed

and Winston tastes good, like
a cigarette should, and
there go the two of them,
twinned lights as they
murmer, murmer (of what?)
...too far to hear

and lights flash on and
off as a neighbor walks
past, unshrouding them for
just a moment,

a sudden exposure, then
dark again, those twin
torches coupled in darkness

Poem, "Butterfly, Loch Avon" forthcoming in "Torrid Literature"

2011-08-17T19:16:00.000-07:00

MaryAnn's poem, "Butterfly, Loch Avon" -- which first appeared on this blog -- will be published in both the online and print editions of the April 2012 issue of "Torrid Literature."

Click on the title of this blog post to check out their website and submission information.

Cheers,

MaryAnn

"Blood Beats in Four Square Miles" -- the first anthology to feature the work of Mount Vernon, NY poets......

2011-08-17T19:13:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Beats-Four-Square-Miles/dp/1453778047/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313632879&sr=1-1

Before you know it it will be time to draw up your lists for holiday gift-giving....

What better gift than the very first anthology to feature the work of Mount Vernon, NY poets?? Truly a unique volume!!

Next meeting of the Mount Vernon Writers Network

2011-08-11T13:43:00.000-07:00

http://www.mountvernonpubliclibrary.org/

The next meeting of the Mount Vernon Writers Network will be held at the Mount Vernon Public Library on Thursday 18th August 2011 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m..

Come and share your writing in a welcoming atmosphere!!

The Mount Vernon Public Library is located at:

28 South First Avenue
Mount Vernon, NY 10550

Telephone: 914-668-1840

Closest MetroNorth Station: Mount Vernon East.

Poem "Boarding the Black Dog" published in the Mount Vernon Inquirer

2011-07-03T11:12:00.000-07:00

http://www.mvinquirer.com/past_issues.htm

Poem, "Boarding the Black Dog" published in the July 2011 edition of the Mount Vernon Inquirer.

Click the title of this blog post to read it online or read it on this blog.....

Cheers,

MaryAnn

Two poems published in "Thick With Conviction"

2011-07-02T13:59:00.000-07:00

http://www.angelfire.com/poetry/thickwithconviction/mccarra.html

Two poems, "Building Blocks" and "Crazed Cup" published in the online poetry journal Thick With Conviction.

Click on the link above to read these and the other poems featured in the June 2011 issue.

Cheers,

MaryAnn

Make Haste....

2011-07-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

make haste with swift
alacrity, on to the
chipped Corelle, the
Johnson Brothers, a single
polished nail in rosy
peach reflecting the light
back, small gold globe,
mass of electrons, ever
humming

super-vitrified Dudson,
Duraline, stacked rounds
straining the shelf to
the breaking point

gripping plate-edge as
water and soap-froth
shears off in sheets down
the abyss of the drain, that
single eye staring back, that
dark mouth through which
small scraps may fall,
accidental offerings to
the kitchen gods who,
turning a blind eye, allow
the rice to scorch as
the custard turns to
scrambled eggs....

super-vitrified, twice-
fired, unlike the Limoges
A Lanternier, France, with
faded flowers: rose, carnation,
scalloped gold,
Arklow FINE BONE CHINA (in capital
letters, if you please)
or pale-pink Colelough,
gold-scrolled, made in
England, or the Paragon
with the hollyhocks....

sealing away the odd ends
of vegetables and
beef overtopped with potato,
plastic, then foil, destined
for a late lunch, standing
up, mid-kitchen, ear cocked for
the ring of the telephone

Taxonomy

2011-07-01T12:33:00.000-07:00

grouped and regrouped, the
orders and suborders, the
genus, divisions, as
white sheets flap in the
wind, awaiting
starched corners

each clade and domain,
these flightless bipeds
basking in self-created
glory on their pavingstones

phylum, class, and legion,
must keep their order,
red and black-ink lined,
so clear as to cut

Some Summer programs at the Mount Vernon Public Library!!!!!

2011-06-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

Contact the library for more information!!!

Mount Vernon Public Library
28 South 1st Avenue
Mount Vernon, NY 10550

914-668-1840

http://www.mountvernonpubliclibrary.org/home

Winter Day -- Their Album "Acceptance"

2011-06-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

Click on the title of this blog post if you're interested in downloading "Acceptance."

http://www.mediafire.com/?i29de93f74nc1vz

John Emery of Winter Day, a poetry/spoken word/acoustic collective sent me a link (which I will try to post here!) for their new album "Acceptance" -- which includes the following tracks:

1. The Love We Leave

2. Despair I Wrote

3. Seasons Change

4. Old Home

5. Time to Let Go

6. Portrait

I really liked the cover art on the album, which was sent to me as a JPEG, but, unfortunately, I wasn't able to reproduce it here.

Winter Day is on Facebook. Check them out....

Cheers,

MaryAnn

REVERBNATION

2011-06-23T12:59:00.000-07:00

Click on the title of this blog post to get to MaryAnn's page on the REVERBNATION website!

Cheers,

MaryAnn

http://www.reverbnation.com/maryannmccarra

Poetry Readings placed on PodSnack

2011-06-22T06:59:00.000-07:00

Click on the title of this blog post to get to the PodSnack player....

http://www.podsnack.com/playlists/6f549dc2aadbac7b16b32b172a711603

http://www.podsnack.com/my-playlists/details/6f549dc2aadbac7b16b32b172a711603

The embedded player I had formerly (Podbean) seemed to stop working so I put my MP3 recordings on a PodSnack player. Not difficult at all, thankfully.

Only drawback is that, with the embedded feature, they only allow five recordings on the player (while there are fourteen on my PodSnack page......).

Cheers,

MaryAnn