~Bruce Banner
I first heard about Aimee Nezhukumatathil when I read "Cheese Curds, The First Time" on T. S. Poetry Press's Every Day Poems, but I wasn't able to find it online to share with you. I found a bunch of others, though!
"What I Learned From..." is a good prompt, isn't it?
What I Learned from the Incredible Hulk
By Aimee Nezhukumatathil
When it comes to clothes, make
an allowance for the unexpected.
Be sure the spare in the trunk
of your station wagon with wood paneling
isn’t in need of repair. A simple jean jacket
says Hey, if you aren’t trying to smuggle
rare Incan coins through this peaceful
little town and kidnap the local orphan...
read the rest here
***********
Cherry Hill photo by Ian Sane
The Woman Who Turned Down a Date with a Cherry Farmer
By Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Fredonia, NY
Of course I regret it. I mean there I was under umbrellas of fruit
so red they had to be borne of Summer, and no other season.
Flip-flops and fishhooks. Ice cubes made of lemonade and sprigs
of mint to slip in blue glasses of tea. I was dusty, my ponytail
all askew and the tips of my fingers ran, of course, red...
read the rest here
***********
First Anniversary, With Monkeys
By Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Periyar Nature Preserve
There is no crumbly frozen cake to thaw.
Today, we are in the jungle. I mean mosquito. I mean
tigers and elephants sludging their way
to the lake for a drink and Don’t make sudden moves
or snakes startled from an afternoon nap
will greet you fang first. I think we are lost. Too hot
for any cold confection to survive. Even my tube
of sunblock is as warm as a baby’s bottle. You get
to those places I can’t reach, those places I dared
not even whisper before I walked down the aisle
in white. You never worried if our families
would clash, if they would clang like the clutch
read the rest here
***********
Swear Words
A Year of Reading has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Mary Lee!
I'm laughing a little at the way you linked up (poet whose name I can't spell off the top of my head). I usually have at least one name like this on my class list, and it is a work of heart to learn to (first) say it correctly and (next) spell it without peeking!
ReplyDeleteWhat a rich offering of poems by Aimee N. (that'll have to do for now)! My favorite is the turned down date. I love how you need the title to understand the poem. And oh, that missed jubilee!
These are a hoot - I'm a little wistful that she turned down that date, though. I mean, he was nice about it, but my heart hurt for him, and for her, too. Now she'll never get all those tartlets... on the other hand, I don't think the cherry guy would take her to monkeys, so it all works out.
ReplyDelete☺
Oh well, at least she had the good sense to recognize the mistake made, the jubilee lost. Thanks for introducing me to this poet, Tabatha, whose name I, too, give up at being able to pronounce.
ReplyDeleteThe poems are delightful, filled with witty commenting on life itself and make me smile and then lament at the loss she seems to share. I did laugh early on at "green doesn’t always mean envy." but later the green meant something else. Thanks, Tabatha, a new poem to love.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the introduction. I like the prompt What I've Learned...may need to try it out.
ReplyDeleteThe last line of that first poem, "each rib shuttling drops of liquid light" is such a sweet way of seeing the Hulk, although one gets the feeling she isn't seeing the hulk after all. Thanks for sharing these. They are wonderful and fun.
ReplyDeleteI love her!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the introduction, Tabatha! I enjoyed reading them all. This is my favorite line: We made it one year
ReplyDeletewithout a compass and we’re not about to start now
We all have to learn to trust our internal compass!
Tabatha, these poems are great! I love the casual tone describing truths that are also mine. Green is my favorite color and I love that it's also the color of the spaces in between. What a fun poet to discover through you. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThese are such fun--even if there is no way I will ever figure out how to spell her name without copy and paste assistance. thank you for the introduction!!
ReplyDelete