–My poem, The Storm of 2016, was chosen for this fall’s New River Valley Voices (NRVV) competition. I (pictured center) read it at last week’s NRVV program, which also included the work of the above writers of prose and poetry. The juncos stand precariously on snow They can’t feel the ground beneath them Their black […]
Beatniks ring saucers with teaspoon clappers Jam with jazz rappers Sing praises to Lao Tzu ____Colleen Redman / Poets United
-This review of my poetry collection, along with a small selection of my poems from the book, is in the current issue of Floyd County Moonshine, which features one of my photographs on the cover. Colleen Redman’s new chapbook from Finishing Line Press, Packing a Suitcase for the Afterlife, is an intriguing collection. The […]
The sunlight is bright I can see to thread the needle Always moving buttons over to make something fit Always taking in the excess and shortening the length stitching childhood together with famous last words I don’t make something new but make do with what is I sew backwards to go forward and feel every […]
I twiddle my thumbs Pull petals off daisies I have nothing to say I have everything to say I’m a blind bird in a silent winter A realist with no humor hiding out I burn toast Mark the days off the calendar Put flowers on the table and wait ________Colleen Redman / Poets United / Imaginary […]
I wonder if my first breath was as soul-stirring to my mother as her last breath was to me. —Lisa Goich Without dreams to follow I’m lost in my day I wander around with her in my body I guard my grief and push myself forward I don’t know where she ends and where I […]
It’s a fairy tale of carousels spells and confetti Impressionistic valleys and Van Gogh gold It’s a Seurat painted scene of once upon a time with a hip hop drop from a mountain climb where the red trees flame to light the traveler’s view All the better to see you with My dears ________Colleen Redman […]
You write your own vows and recite them out loud This isn’t your first poetry reading You pick the best but vary your playlist You don’t show up in the same dress twice You read something sad and something funny Something old and new borrowed or blue With every reading your commitment to writing deepens […]
I sit with a poem like it was a crossword puzzle finding the words that work together counting the letters filling in blanks building momentum for the bigger picture resisting the urge to quit I work on a poem like it was a crossword puzzle part hard struggle part my kind of fun erasing mistakes […]
Can you write a poem on a deadline? Like your life depended on it? In a noisy café? Like William Stafford? In every room in the house? There is no instruction No paycheck or pink slip There is no score and no demand for it Can you write on a whim? A dare? A blind […]
Caught in a web like a Nowhere Man hanging in a nowhere land An inchworm twisting in the breeze swings in mid-air like a daredevil trapeze Should we snatch it from its fate Protect it from its fall Relocate it to safety on the ground? It made it to the tree top inching its way […]
I want a poem I can live happily ever after with even if we fight A poem that will talk to me but one that won’t say what it thinks I want to hear I want a poem meant to be that says what it means and isn’t afraid to wear its heart on its […]
