Village Poets Welcome Sharon Alexander, Featured Poet on June 28, 2015

We are pleased to announce that California poet Sharon Alexander will feature at the upcoming Monthly Reading Series,  at Bolton Hall Museum 10110 Commerce Ave., Tujunga, CA 91042.  

Poets are welcome to sign-up for the open reading upon arrival.  Light refreshments will be served – a $3.00 donation is appreciated! 

SHARON ALEXANDER - BIOGRAPHY

Born and raised in New York, Sharon Alexander now lives in Southern California. She divides her time between the mountains in Idyllwild and in the desert at the foot of the beautiful Santa Rosa Mountains east of Palm Springs.

Finishing Line Press released Sharon’s first collection of poetry, VOODOO TROMBONE, in 2014. Her work has appeared in various journals including Redheaded Stepchild, Slipstream, Pearl, Crate, Tiger’s Eye and Pinyon. In addition, her poetry in included in the following anthologies: Beyond the Lyric Moment; Woman in Metaphor; and The Poetry Box Anthology: Poeming Pigeons.

Sharon’s website can be found at: sharonalexanderpoetry.com

JADE RIVER

Before I became young again, I loaded my pockets with stones.

My legs tangled in fishing wire, I waded into the Jade River,

ignored familiar voices that urged me not to go.

There is no persuading the wave

not to break, the widow not to weep. 

And so the Jade River had no mercy.

Once, I was a washerwoman. Hands

of rough bark, my back a crooked tree, kneeling

on cold rock, pounding linens to white.

I danced to banjos and guitars, tapping my feet

on dusty floors.  All I hear now is the slap

of sheet on stone.

Once, I was wed in white, led to the marriage chamber,

left in darkness alone.  When the morning sun lit our bed,

my husband was gone. 

And later the red sheet hung in plain sight. 

And later I went down to the Jade River

to scrub away my shame.

I return this last time to my place beside the river, hold many lives

in my hands. At the widest point where the current runs swift,

I release all I was to white water, empty my pockets of stones.

On mornings like this, the river shines with a strange

green light as though all the stones beneath the water

          were aglow.

by Sharon Alexander

BLOOD SEASON

my body

a ticking wire                    

anchored to the belly

of the world     

all the circuits sing

all the blood tides rip

and every pulse

an hour gone

every breath

a year in flight

my hair was dark and long

I walked with lovers in sin and grace

my voice a river

carving time

and for a minute

I believed

the star-strewn sky

blinked at me

and for an hour

I believed the blood season

was eternity

my body a torch

a flaming arrow

madly singing

to the river’s insistent tide

Los Angeles Poet Laureate Luis Rodriguez in Tujunga 

Luis J. Rodriguez gave a reading at Tujunga Branch of Los Angeles Public Library and the Village Poets welcomed him on May 23, 2015: Dorothy Skiles, Marlene Hitt, Joe DeCenzo, and Maja Trochimczyk. Elsa Frausto who organized the reading could not attend but was present through her poems.