[stylist] {Disarmed} FW: Star in the Throat, Fire in the Cupboard by Catie Rosemurgy

Wed Apr 30 19:53:11 UTC 2014

I would agree with you.  If it has to be explained, then the work of art 
misses the point.  I think that type of art is like the emperor's set of 
clothes.  Everyone just says they like them to be polite, meanwhile they are 
thinking "what in the world was that?"
Barbara

Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.--Robert Frost
-----Original Message----- 
From: Jacobson, Shawn D
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 1:56 PM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [stylist] {Disarmed} FW: Star in the Throat, Fire in the 
Cupboard by Catie Rosemurgy

You're right that the imagery is interesting but the meaning of the poem is 
obscure.

My problem with poems that need to be explained is akin to my problem with 
jokes where the punch line has to be explained, it isn't complete in itself.

Shawn

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jackie 
Williams
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 2:47 PM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: [stylist] {Disarmed} FW: Star in the Throat, Fire in the Cupboard 
by Catie Rosemurgy

Bridgit,
Here is a sample of a poem I received today, that without the author’s note, 
I could get little meaning. I read for meaning, and you like the metaphors 
and word choices. I like that also, once I have a clue about the content. 
Curious about your reaction to this. There are many similar instances, as I 
read each one each day and sweat over many. Often I will not read the 
authors note until after the sweating. Sometimes I just give up, and then 
read it.

Jackie Lee

Time is the school in which we learn.
Time is the fire in which we burn.
Delmore Schwartz

From: Poem-a-Day | Poets.org [mailto:poem-a-day=poets.org at cmail3.com] On 
Behalf Of Poem-a-Day | Poets.org
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 3:30 AM
To: jackieleepoet at cox.net
Subject: Star in the Throat, Fire in the Cupboard by Catie Rosemurgy

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April 30, 2014

<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-l-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-p/> Star 
in the Throat, Fire in the Cupboard

Catie Rosemurgy

When I was young, I hid under the porch with a star in my throat.
When I got a little older, my mother opened the cupboard to let the 
fire out.

I should’ve known the cliffs meant a coming blankness.
We should’ve noticed the competition growing deadly between the 
masts and the trees.
The problem wasn’t the lateness of our parties but what we used for wood to 
keep them lit.

What is it people say—take my arm and walk with me along the shore      for 
a minute?

My mother, bless her, is a speck of color in the flush of a great cheek.
I’ve come to ask you to consider praying for that giant child.

Remember when we began to forget the babies once we tossed them in      the 
air?
First it was the completion of those simple gestures, but then entire 
sections of the story
went missing. In our lips we could feel the slight buzz
of the edge where the cut was made. We crawled in and out of those 
holes
wearing different faces.

I believe the stories got wet and began to bleed together.
I believe we built the sides of the town too high and the events kept 
rolling back.
I didn’t know that the water was going to keep rising as well, but if you 
have any say in the matter, while the boats go down, I’d like to be on a 
ladder, peeking into a loft made narcotic with children, a dead pool with 
rolling, living waves. If possible,
I’d like the water to douse the match that’s growing out of the bones 
of my hand.

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About This Poem

“‘Star in the Throat, Fire in the Cupboard’ is loosely based on events that 
occurred throughout northern Wisconsin and upper Michigan during the 1800s 
and early 1900s. The poem comes from a collection about a fictional town in 
which several conflated and highly-altered historical disasters happen over 
and over. The town keeps burning, flooding, dwindling, and finally 
disappearing. This particular poem speculates on how an event (in this case 
the Peshtigo, Wisconsin, firestorm of 1871—the worst recorded forest fire in 
United States history) becomes distorted through repetition and retelling.”
—Catie Rosemurgy

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Catie Rosemurgy’s latest book is The Stranger Manual (Graywolf Press, 2009). 
She lives in Philadelphia and teaches at The College of New Jersey.

<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-l-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-x/>

Most Recent Book by Rosemurgy

<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-l-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-q/> The 
Stranger Manual (Graywolf Press, 2009)

"A group of girls from Minnesota or black mascara"
by Maureen Owen

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"Help Me to Salt, Help Me to Sorrow"
by Judy Jordan

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"forgetting something"
by Nick Flynn

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