Poetry as Art

Our Napa County Poet Laureate, Leonore Wilson, is working on a great project with Arts Council of Napa Valley to create broadsides (framed poetry). I am honored to have one of my poems (read below) included in the show! According to Leonore, the broadsides will be touring businesses around Napa. Hope you have a chance to see my poem displayed and can read it along with others in person now appearing at Alexis Bakery and Cafe, 1517 Third St., Napa, CA.

When We Go to Lunch

We shall all wear hats

And long floral skirts in the garden
We’ll sip lavender tea and sparkling wine
And agree to surrender our burdens 

When we go to lunch we shall trust that our hats

Hold most of our secrets within
We’ll eat all our words from silver spoons
And tighten silk bows at our chins

All of our hats shall have a wide brim

To protect the aging of skin
All of our hats shall shadow raised brows   
From the gossip we revel in

When we go to lunch we shall try other hats

Stylish or garish or sweet
When we go to lunch we shall dare all our hats
To flee when we sit down to eat

Barbara with her broadside.

Traffic Jamming

We call them the Wheeler family

Follow their trailer full of wheeled possessions

Toy trucks, bikes, coolers, and tubs

Back into town

 

Usually we whiz right by here

Now we can see everything

Including the wings on a lady bug

A joke, but it’s true

 

Hot pink poppies

In the golden brush

Signs: Step in

Taste our Zin

DINER, Biscuits and Gravy

CLOSED

 

A rusty garden

Of metal sculptures

A real garden

Trucks, tractors stand

In their oxidized frames

Of another generation

 

At the Vineyard Hotel

Swimming pool

Nobody swims

And the little magnolia tree

Blooms big and white

At it’s center

 

Up ahead

White Suburban

Leaves big gap in line

The nerve

Of some people

 

Cherry stands

Make us hunger for dinner

The Boon Fly Café

Has the best sign

OPEN