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My collage for the month of February, 2015
One of my guilty pleasures is making collages for a calendar at home that I put together for each month. I was low on blank calendar pages and so Matt went to Kinkos and made copies of my blanks (the ones with a calendar grid that I can number and decorate) and so now I’m set for the coming year. Another thing I like to do is to write collage poetry. I find words and hyphenated phrases at random in magazines or old newspapers, the kinds I have stashed by the woodstove, and make a list on graph paper. Then I write a poem, often without knowing the subject of my poem when I start. Some of them end up becoming collage love poems. With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, I thought I’d post a few of my collage love poems, which I typically keep to myself. Happy Valentine’s Day!
My Sweet Rackety Trapeze
The rarefied leader had a crush
Ǎ la Lloyd Dobler, donning a trench,
Truck farmer with deep disciplines
(But wouldn’t cut his hair.)
Voice falls with dreams of a girl
Who shall go nameless—the very brightness
Of her jaw, jutting out, folded and bent,
Shy and wild in her youth on a lush half-acre.
While holding his breath, half-swallowed
Self-flagellation dripped upon the pressures
Of depth, she characterized azaleas,
Succulents and strange sea shapes.
I know the dichotomy: the scorpion and frog
Hypothetically compatible but tenuous;
Peeling the illusion, seduced and salted
And silly me, always in that sequence.
Let’s say that the writer, busy with real work,
Is quick to volunteer without fuss
A series of secluded failings…
My sweet rackety trapeze
Gripping, if unshaped, what seemed truer:
Daddy’s girl swimming in open water
Made a dive into cold and darkness—
My own exile, a smooth curled fortune.
I have a long history like a mermaid’s tale
Too deep to reach the surface
By my generosity, I might otherwise lose
Sometimes forget the career had legs.
Lonely, that’s not me at all, apologetically
Rugged little netted berry, dressed in lingerie,
I stopped fumbling, feisty tiger lily
With a braided crushing puppy-heart line.
I relaxed and roamed with modern twists
To find a language—it’s the only thing
We have—just let it emerge
Unexpected, a sexy, wounded Cusack
Gave me a kiss in the living room
The pillow ticking sounded like instruments
Size of marbles pooled in schools of creatures
That darted into nooks and crannies.
He was getting dreamy, radiant
Freshly hairy palette that would convince me
Not solely to thrive on tea and cat naps
But honor, the deepest dive.
What I wouldn’t give, to relive it
And be catapulted from the sofa
Stumble forward, almost hitting
Hot woodstove, ricochet and splatter
Into the dog’s bed, bar-to-bar I swing.
LCS
Because, A Sonnet
Well, just because I loved him nearly
Enough, at least, that I could hardly bear it
Rose-colored glasses off, I now see clearly
For none will stop me, ‘though I fear it
Like a virus, ‘ready slipped beneath my skin,
Not living, nor dead, it spread the symptoms,
By what means it had to send a sentry, alien
Scout supplied the nerve to mimic phantoms.
Gulp down the medicated tincture, antigens
Take time to permeate the known pathologies,
Draws blood, the Ace of Swords, a surgeon’s
Steady hand could not sew shut, nor slice
My byssal thread-bare adductor muscles
Tenuous tissue he holds-fast to my cells.
Leah C. Stetson
Poet’s note: I have been writing a poem a day for the month of January to raise funds for the small nonprofit literary press, Tupelo Press. Please consider making a donation to this wonderful little press, which accomplishes so much and depends on the generosity of donors and lovers of poetry. 
The Adventures of Fen Fatale ~ Ecoheroine 