Two Poems: The Marriage Counselor Channels King Solomon and City Boys

Photo by Robyn Beattie

The poems, “City Boys” and “The Marriage Counselor Channels King Solomon” are up today at Rockvale Review. Both poems riff on the past and are from a new manuscript I’m working on about love. Not just the upsides of love, but the heart work we do to stay married and the terrain we pass through over the course of the years. Where would we be without counselors? And humor? And the grace to try again? Rest assured my husband encourages me to write about him—any time I get a poetry rejection, he asks, “Was it about me?” and “Surely they would have taken it if it was about me…” 

Here’s a word cloud I created for the issue, one word per poem:

Creosote     scorpions     Ironworkers     shearers     Leon Spinks     ex-lover     toolbox     Folgers     furrows     ridgeline     wasp     compost     catfish     goslings     son     coqui     disappeared     ‘Yes’     canoe     moon     saliva     tailpipe     death     armadillo     letters     greengrocer     mermaid     future     compass               ancestors

My thanks goes to Rockvale Review Founding Editor Sandy Coomer (and her editorial team Nancy Posey, Roseann St. Aubin, Christine Fraser, and Laurie Kolp). Photographer Michelle Casady pairs photos with each poem. Following each pairing is a note by Michelle describing her process of choosing. Here’s the link where  you can either buy a print copy or access the links to the individual poems and photographs: Rockvale Review, Issue Two.

Related posts from Feral Mom about marriage:

Key to My Heart

Marriage Alone: A Modern Odyssey

When a Poet Marries a Triathlete

Some Mother: Abalone Vs. Coffee

Feral Wife: Two Chainsaws, the Ocean and an Untended Husband

Upcoming Classes, Online and In Person:

Writing Our Angels, my next online writing class, starts next Monday, May 7, 2018. 

Second Saturdays: Poetry Draft, Craft, Submit, walk-ins welcome. We meet at San Diego Writers, Ink. May's theme is Friendship. We meet next on Saturday, May 12 from 10-12 am.  If you can't make it in May, try us in June (Visitors), or July (Museums).