The Zingara Project

Tag: Dancing Girl Press

  • Gleeful by Christina M. Rau

    The joy of cows
    roadside sitting
    standing together—
    as if I’d never seen cows.
    As if they are exotic.
    I suppose to some, they are.
    To others, sacred.
    Once at the Atlanta Zoo
    a keeper told me to think
    of giraffes as giant cows,
    head’s the same just a different height.

    Giraffes are roadside somewhere
    but not here. Down here there
    are the cows, the green green grasses,
    the flowers in blankets of maroon
    white purple yellow
    billowing blossoming blooming
    for miles stretched ahead.

    —

    Christina M. Rau is the author of the sci-fi fem poetry collection, Liberating The Astronauts (Aqueduct Press, 2017), which won the SFPA 2018 Elgin Award, and the chapbooks WakeBreatheMove (Finishing Line Press, 2015) and For The Girls, I (Dancing Girl Press, 2014). She also writes for Book Riot about all things book-related. In her non-writing life, when she’s not teaching yoga, she’s watching the Game Show Network.  http://www.christinamrau.com

  • Under the Weather by Rachel Barton

    remnants of ice fog sparkle like glitter
    frost crisps grass and thistle
    shimmer of holiday gift wrap ruffs
    the bin-on-wheels pulls me in a glide over a sheen of ice
    on slippered feet an unexpected ride
    down the drive to the curb

    this is the day after
    pajamas and frizzled ham on a plate
    an afterthought of toast and jam
    he sips espresso  through a blanket of foam
    folds himself back into a roll of fleece
    drifts into a dreamless sleep

    I survey the counter of holiday sweets
    palate dimmed by yesterday’s surfeit
    no more rush to prep or polish I pause
    as sun rises above the neighbor’s roofline
    a weak light slow to warm
    the tinsel of silvered grasses

    —

    Rachel Barton is a poet, writing coach, and editor. She is a member of the Calyx Editorial Collective, edits Willawaw Journal, and co-chairs Willamette Writers on the River. Find her poems in Oregon English Journal, Hubbub, Whale Road Review, Mom Egg Review, Cloudbank, and elsewhere. Her chapbook, Out of the Woods, was released in 2017. Happiness Comes is just released from Dancing Girl Press.

     

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  • Mapping The Gnomes by Christina M. Rau

    Stuck in a corkboard,
    all sightings get categorized—

    Red:  Definite
    Blue: Possible
    Yellow: Probable
    Orange: Unlikely

    A 3-D connect-the-dots journey
    between bushes in Brussels
    under azaleas in Iceland
    among marigolds in Massachusetts
    through paved paths in Puerto Rico
    behind vines in Bellvue
    around weeds in West Germany.

    Reports come in rapid at sunrise
    when the light excites and surprises—
    three or four skittering across lawns and behind
    old dog houses, their voices louder than
    you’d think, if that’s that kind of thing
    you think about.

    They shout Make Way! Hold Back!
    They move in scattered variety,
    hurry to their places to
    complement the poppies
    accent the petunias
    uphold the underbrush
    with a wink, with a wish.

    The big board tracks all the movement,
    an attempt to capture magic
    on the head of a pin.

    Christina M. Rau is the author of the poetry chapbooks WakeBreatheMove (Finishing Line Press, 2015) and For The Girls, I (Dancing Girl Press, 2014). Founder of Poets In Nassau, a reading circuit on Long Island, NY, her poetry has appeared on gallery walls in The Ekphrastic Poster Show, on car magnets for The Living Poetry Project, and most recently in the journals Amethyst Arsenic and Better Than Starbucks. In her non-writing life, she practices yoga occasionally and line dances on other occasions. www.christinamrau.com

  • That Photo, Which She Carried to Class by KJ Hannah Greenberg

    That photo, which she carried to events, shows youth and beauty,
    Also free-flowing wisdom, lovelies hung on walls, gnawing on doors,
    Climbing telephone poles; maidens with few fears
    Whose exploits include difficult pairings, full sublet prices.
    It radiates diatribes wrung out by emotional teenagers,
    Depicts all forms of obsequious behavior, reflects inner balance,
    Remains spiced by conflict, bravado, and the questioning of cleaning fun.
    Also, it gives a peek in to that rarity of reasoned decision-making.

    Along the speaking circuit of hillbillies, horrible monster with swollen fingers
    Extrasensory abilities, flawed couplings, pimply noses, articulated opinions,
    Shuttle cats to local hospitals, pull up forbs of spring, teach herbal gymnastics,
    Maybe, additionally, reserve castile soap for parental participation in public schools.
    A plethora of high manors, bards, and local serfs, reduced to sharing shrugs,
    Smile, chuckle, throw tantrums while morally relaxed others surf Internet cafes,
    Seeking pink or gray beaches beneath Northeastern dumps, tiaras, gloves,
    Sleek modes of dress, suspicious manners as found in bridal magazines.

    Loosened onto existing ephemera, drunken gulls carry away bits of time, viscera,
    Harnesses, new careers among succulent barramundis, gasping tourists’ limbs,
    While books written by domestic divas parcel accidental merit, split fifths,
    Trumpet dames’ lingo, falsetto productions, women’s song, acoustic guitar music.
    Feminine health products never turn heads as long as people continue to be
    “Smart enough” to discern among glossy rhetoric. Alternatively, provoked into curiosity
    Concerning manner of eating starfish, hunting quail, gathering leprechauns,
    Persons smooth minor inconveniences, including the complexity of the universe.

    —

    KJ Hannah Greenberg, who only pretends at being indomitable, tramps across literary genres and giggles in her sleep. Her newest poetry books are: Dancing with Hedgehogs, (Fowlpox Press, 2014), and The Little Temple of My Sleeping Bag (Dancing Girl Press, 2014), Citrus-Inspired Ceramics (Aldrich Press, 2013).