"Rural Oregon. Tuesday. In September" and "A Mind Without a Bird" by Theresa Hamman

Here are two poems by the very talented, Theresa Hamman. We don't know why she would insult such great pieces of art by displaying them in a venue as shoddy as ours but we're sure glad she did and think that you will be, too. Thanks again for your submissions, Theresa! Maybe we should retitle this page "Atomic Flypaper," because we'd like the talented writers to stick around. (That's probably enough out of me, now.)
-Todd

Rural Oregon. Tuesday.  In September

Someone is burning garbage in a barrel.
The odor mingles with bacon, cut grass, roses.

An early breeze
lifts the edges of the table cloth.

The cat rolls
in a sunspot on the carpet,
a black bowling ball with yellow-eyed finger holes.  

Out back
a doe munches an apple near the creek bank.

After such a dry summer, the creek is rocks.

The girls chatter
about clothes or boys

they drown out CNN.

My father calls from Arizona,
“We are under attack.  Is your T.V. on?”

My girls flank me.

The dawn,
shining through the crystal candy dish,
detonates a kaleidoscope on the living room wall.

Outside
the doe leaps over the creek and bolts into the forest.

My father, “We are at war.”

The cat
in her sunspot, nothing makes her happier. ​

A Mind Without a Bird

The coffee brews
whether I’m awake or not.

And I am never awake.

The Robin
perched atop the spruce
declares morning.

I become scarce--

nowhere near
young or open
or found.

The mirror’s bloom,
this old face,
this gray plumage.

The Robin sings
her strong language
of air
for the breathless.

I am weary of her lyric.

My cloistered mind
always jumps
to cursing.

The coffee brews.

I become--

A crooked finger,
A short arm,
An aching bone.

A mind
without a bird.

Theresa Hamman is a poet from La Grande, Oregon. Her poems can be found in the following: The Tower Journal, Oregon East, basalt, The Paddock Review, Red Savina Review and Nailed. She holds an MFA in poetry from Eastern Oregon University and is currently in the process of earning her MA in Literature from Mercy College in New York.  Her first poetry chapbook collection, All Those Lilting Tongues was published in September 2018 and is available from Finishing Line Press.


Here links to my social media pages:
https://www.facebook.com/tess1063
https://www.instagram.com/hammantheresa/
https://twitter.com/theresa_hamman
https://www.linkedin.com/in/theresa-hamman-19114275/


Here are links to my book's online bookstore pages:
https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/all-those-lilting-tongues-by-theresa-hamman/


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1635346851/ref=x_gr_w_bb?ie=UTF8&tag=x_gr_w_bb-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1635346851&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2


https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/all-those-lilting-tongues-theresa-hamman/1129587391;jsessionid=138E0E50E16306D95B9AA00D5A349253.prodny_store02-atgap18?ean=9781635346855&st=AFF&2sid=Goodreads,%20Inc_2227948_NA&sourceId=AFFGoodreads,%20Inc


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41966041-all-those-lilting-tongues