Line Breaks (After Naomi Shihab Nye)

Poems collected from participants in Dave Johnson’s 10*10*10*2 Workshops!

Episode 14: Naomi Shihab Nye & Line Breaks

Eat
bottles shiver in street light
canvasses of oil of copper pots
bake the elements of understanding
heat eating our own ideas
only thoughts will do
for dinner

—Dave Johnson

The Mnemonics of Music

Songs bleed into consciousness
and a lyric can fire a nerve
the chorus a personal attack
that inflames a scar of memory.

Or: a rhyme rings like a church bell
it echoes through the nave of one’s history
through the details of events that build
the cathedral of one’s ego.

The harmony resonates
in the vault of the brain
bouncing back an instant later,
one’s story now softened by the latency.

—Gina A. Turner

When the Muse Amuses
She is Vocal
She entertains
Pleases
Delights
Immerses
Involves
All of Creation
While Charming herself

—Sophie Tucker