To Johannesburg, with love

by on Nov 23, 2017

(for Voldi and his love for opera)

      A flock of stars. Stars in her
      eyes. And so, I closed myself
      off to the outside world. The
      tired, miserable outside world.

And said this, that people have nothing to do with me

      and I have nothing to do with
      people but I fell in love with
      the city and the city fell in love with me. Boots, jeans and all.

The pulsing sun lit up something inside

      of me. And I finally learned what it was to walk on the kingdom
      of dry land. To clasp that

tender prize of pure rain in my hands.

 


Abigail George is a South African blogger, poet, short story writer, aspirant young adult novelist and playwright. She briefly studied film at the Newtown Film and Television School in Johannesburg. She received two grants from the National Arts Council, Centre for the Book and ECPACC. Her fiction “Wash Away My Sins” was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She blogs at Abigail George’s Blog.

felled branches

by on Nov 22, 2017

 

felled branches
the park
gets a brand new sky

 


Lee Nash lives in France and freelances as an editor and proofreader. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in print and online journals including Acorn, Ambit, Angle, Antiphon, Magma, Mezzo Cammin, Orbis, Poetry Salzburg Review, Presence and The World Haiku Review. Her first poetry chapbook, Ash Keys, has just been released from Flutter Press. You can find a selection of Lee’s poems on her website: leenashpoetry.com.

notes on bones

by on Nov 21, 2017

my sister says, last night I dreamt
of poetry
but I was naked
and hiding.
I tell her
this is poetry. she says,
I didn’t realize I was hiding
where I had already been

 


Audrey Gidman received her BFA from the University of Maine Farmington. Her work can be found in The Rush, The 2River View, Slippery Elm, and Smeuse, among others. She currently resides in Maine.

My Body Is Mine

by on Nov 17, 2017

(Watch Jade Anouka’s video of “My Body Is Mine” on YouTube)

 


Jade Anouka is an actor and poet. She has performed her words around London and New York including featured spots with Apples & Snakes, Farrago and the Southbank Centre. Her first collection Eggs On Toast is published though Poetry Space and available to buy at www.AnoukaPoetry.com

at the port

by on Nov 16, 2017

she sits
at the port
at low tide,
scarred and
scared and
sacred,
crying under her breath:

rain was meant for dancing.

 


Erin Leigh holds a BA degree in English Communication and a master’s in Liberal Studies with a concentration in English, and teaches post-secondary writing, research, and literature courses. Her writing has most recently appeared in *82 Review, Belle Rêve Literary Journal, Right Hand Pointing, and Tower Poetry.

A Night So Beautiful We Had To Burn Down the Senator’s House #25

by on Nov 15, 2017

How often
we act out
the play

in our heads
& then polish
the scene

so it can happen
even brighter
in real life

& when it’s dark
& we want fire
for the world

to see us
our naked anger
we end up

setting
the whole county
on fire.

 


Darren C. Demaree’s poems have appeared, or are scheduled to appear in numerous magazines/journals, including the Diode, Meridian, New Letters, Diagram, and the Colorado Review. He is the author of six poetry collections, most recently Many Full Hands Applauding Inelegantly (2016, 8th House Publishing) and is the managing editor of the Best of the Net Anthology and Ovenbird Poetry. He currently lives and writes in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children.

Issues 14, 15 & Beyond

by on Oct 11, 2017

Please remember the deadline for submissions for Issue 14 is this Friday October 13, and we plan to start Issue 14 the week of October 23 November 13.

Issue 15 is going to be a micropoetry issue (similar to our first issue). Please adhere to the general submission guidelines, but for this issue, we would like to see micropoetry, microfiction, videopoems based on micropoetry, and artwork that works with this micro theme. We’re defining micro along the lines of the Twitter model, and ask that all submitted writing be tweetable. That doesn’t mean you need to be on Twitter, it just means we’re setting a 140ish-character limit for each submitted piece. There’s more on the submissions page.

The deadline for submitting to Issue 15 will be January 5, 2018, and we will plan to start the issue the week of January 15.

And then, that will likely be it.

I love running Gnarled Oak. It has been a blast, and I have learned so much and met so many wonderful writers and artists, but life is taking over and increasingly I find I don’t have the headspace to keep this going at the moment. I also find myself chomping at the bit to focus for a while on my own writing again. And I want to read (and try to review) more chapbooks. I may change my mind and this may just be a hiatus, but I think, for now anyway, it is near time to bid Gnarled Oak farewell. I hope you’ll send us your best micros/shorts to help close this thing out in fine style.

Issue 13: Once Upon a Linear Time—Summary, Contents & Editor’s Note

by on Oct 9, 2017

Summary

Issue 13: Once Upon a Linear Time (Aug-Sep 2017) is an unthemed issue featuring poetry, prose, videos, and artwork from writers and artists around the world.

Read online | Read the PDF (click to read online, right-click & save-as to download)

Contents

first day of school — Anthony Q. Rabang

Once Upon a Linear Time — Marianne Paul

Before We Stepped Outside — James Croal Jackson

Trees and Names — Clyde Kessler

Saving Face — Mary McCarthy

Natural Light — Anna Kander

In the Temple — Marie Craven

Boat — Olivier Schopfer

abandoned home— Billy Antonio

On the Way to the Ocean — Marianne Szlyk

Three Poems — Tara Roeder

There Must Have Been Starfish — Jeanie Tomasko

summer heat — Mark Gilbert

into the night — Marianne Paul

Hollow — Steve Klepetar

Skeletons — Alixa Brobbey

Bad News — Helina Hookoomsing

parachute silks — Debbie Strange

our tracks — Marilyn Fleming

At the Edge of the Forest — Ben Groner III

Growing Alone — W. Jack Savage

In the Wadi — Devon Balwit

In Homage to Those Who Metamorphose
 — Sarah Bigham

Death Meditation — Marie Craven

country road — Jennifer Hambrick

Editor’s Note

I tend to say yes when volunteers are needed, which is how I wound up coaching soccer and leading a Cub Scout den (and getting way behind on Gnarled Oak). I did both of those things growing up and now that my son is old enough for these sorts of activities, I’m happy to help make them happen for him. It’s fun.

As a Cub Scout leader, I had the pleasure of taking a bunch of first grade boys for a nature walk last week.  Being quiet to listen for birds was tricky, but they discovered so much: rocks, caterpillars, mushrooms, dragonflies, fish and turtles. It was a joy to see these kids look beyond the playground and themselves to the natural world that exists even in one little pocket of the suburbs.

It’s a beautiful thing to open your eyes on what is old and all around in such a way that it all seems new. Seeing things through their young eyes was a gift, and it made me think of Gnarled Oak (because I was running late) and how through it we experience so much made new.

And I’ll leave it here because this issue ran so late. So, without further ado, let me just say thank you to our contributors for their work and our readers for their time. See you in a few weeks for an October issue that will hopefully be more on time.

With gratitude and thanks,

James Brush, editor
Oct 2017

///

Gnarled Oak — Issue 13: Once Upon a Linear Time: Read onlineRead the PDF (right-click/save-as to download)

country road

by on Sep 25, 2017

 

country road
even if we never
get there

 


A Pushcart Prize nominee, Jennifer Hambrick is the author of Unscathed (NightBallet Press).  Her poetry has been published in dozens of literary journals and anthologies worldwide, including the Santa Clara Review, Third Wednesday, Mad River Review, and Modern Haiku, has been translated into five languages, and has won prizes in numerous international competitions.  A classical singer and public radio broadcaster, Jennifer Hambrick lives in Columbus, Ohio.  Her blog, Inner Voices, is at jenniferhambrick.com.