Antidote for Heartache Account for all the different trees on this small tract of land: blue spruce, red pine, juniper, maple, hemlock. Create a mandala with twigs, berries, pinecones, purified air, then stand back and watch as the squirrels testify. Summon the spiders: cat-faced, starbellied, comb footed, wolf, marbled orb-weaver, parson, recluse, jumper. From silky filaments, classify the structure but leave the web undisturbed: funnel, tangle, triangle, spiral? Scan indexes of field guides; see if you can name your sorrow. Ravelry “Term derived from revelry and ravel. A knitting or crocheting party or celebration.” - Urban Dictionary Resilient, versatile, elastic, like spider’s silk, ink secretes across the page, mind radiating out through strands beyond the limits of the body. Multiple lines cast into the wind, carried upwards by electrostatic currents. Wait, see if any take hold. Follow one, and then another to see where it leads. Dangle on the bridgeline. Begin to scaffold, secure anchor points. Dance in auxiliary spirals, circle after circle of tenacious thread. Tighten the filaments until the reverberations become an extension of your senses and a map of your memories.
A poet and public school teacher, Julie Martin lives near the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. Her work has recently appeared in the following journals: The Talking Stick, Plants and Poetry, Optopia, Mothers Always Write, and Thimble Literary Magazine. Visit her blog, Sphinxmothrising.blogspot.com to see more of her work. Guest Editor Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, the 2009-13 Kansas Poet Laureate is the author of 24 books, including How Time Moves: New & Selected Poems; Miriam’s Well, a novel; and The Sky Begins At Your Feet: A Memoir on Cancer, Community, and Coming Home to the Body. Founder of Transformative Language Arts, she is offers writing workshops, coaching, and collaborative projects YourRightLivelihood.com with Kathryn Lorenzen, Bravevoice.com with Kelley Hunt, and TheArtofFacilitation.net with Joy Roulier Sawyer. CarynMirriamGoldberg.com.
The Coop: A Poetry Cooperative 