{"id":6452,"date":"2019-12-03T14:22:43","date_gmt":"2019-12-03T14:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/?p=6452"},"modified":"2019-12-29T14:24:44","modified_gmt":"2019-12-29T14:24:44","slug":"two-poems-irene-mitchell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/?p=6452","title":{"rendered":"TWO POEMS – Irene Mitchell"},"content":{"rendered":"

NIGHT<\/strong>
\n 
\nAutumn to Winter hastens
\nlike a goat that will eat anything
\nfrom a can to kidney pie.
\n 
\nMy inscrutable design
\nfor a good night\u2019s sleep
\nis not to dwell on such images
\nbut to leave the compass behind.
\n 
\nI rely on the sanity of the day
\nfor my night\u2019s rest,
\nthe blue quilt
\na citadel of comfort.
\nI do not bring papers to bed
\nor identification
\nas they are obvious interference
\nand may yield contradictory interpretation
\nat a later date.
\n 
\nThe night is better than the day,
\nmore eloquent, intangible.
\nNight has me in its maw.
\n 
\n <\/p>\n

\n

 
\nVISIT FROM A RAPTOR OF INTEREST<\/strong>
\n 
\nLet me not waste myself on impossible flights\u2026.
\nWilliam Everson
\n 
\nA hawk presents nearby,
\nthe elm\u2019s limb so close
\nto the window I think
\nit has come to visit me in camaraderie.
\n 
\nI left the city for the night air here,
\nthe hawks and hilarious jumping rabbits,
\nthe cricket concerts,
\nthe black of the berry.
\nHere, there isn\u2019t much to be distressed about.
\nOne day there is algae in the pond,
\ngone the next day and the water lively again.
\n 
\nI have named the hawk Ted
\nfor its poetic input, the language
\nof its muscles, the holding at the back
\nof a few grey feathers,
\nthe wingspan huge
\neven, I suppose, in the rain.
\nGoodbye, Ted.
\n 
\nHeeding cautions and riptides,
\nwhere this bird goes, there go I
\ninto the wind
\nand overwhelming sky.
\n 
\nIrene Mitchell’s fifth poetry collection, Fever,<\/em> has been published (2019) by Dos Madres Press. Equal Parts Sun and Shade: An Almanac of Precarious Days,<\/em> was published in 2017 by Kelsay Books\/Aldrich Press. Mitchell is the author of three other collections: Minding the Spectrum’s Business<\/em> (FutureCycle Press, 2015), A Study of Extremes in Six Suites<\/em> (Cherry Grove Collections, 2012), and Sea Wind on the White Pillow<\/em> (Axes Mundi Press, 2009). A long-time teacher of writing in New York, and former poetry editor of Hudson River Art Journal, she conducts an ad hoc series of workshops on how to write better poetry. Mitchell has been featured reader of her work at Poets’ Walk, Bard College’s Institute of Writing and Thinking, William and Mary College, Marianne Courville Gallery,The Albany Institute of History and Art, Melville’s Arrowhead, Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, Woodstock Colony Cafe, Hudson Opera House,as well as regional libraries and bookstores. Mitchell is known for her collaborations with visual artists and composers. She is a 2019 Associate Artist in Residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NIGHT   Autumn to Winter hastens like a goat that will eat anything from a can to kidney pie.   My inscrutable design for a good night\u2019s sleep is not to dwell on such images but to leave the compass behind.   I rely on the sanity of the day for my night\u2019s rest, the [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6758,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[333],"class_list":["post-6452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry","tag-photo-by-yoshiyuki-ito-wikicommons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6452"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6761,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6452\/revisions\/6761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}