Poem-A-Day: Marie Marshall

Tonight we have a clever short poem by Marie Marshall from her unpublished chapbook Letters to Erinna (2010). The collection contains a mix of prose and poetry in a variety of styles. One thing I love about Marie’s poetry is that her style is broad and deep and variable, and yet I would recognize the voice of her poetry easily, even though her poems do not always come to us in the same voice.

Dear Erinna – a Valentine,

A calendar of moons impose
. their will on Capricorn;
I reach to take a second rose,
. my fingers grasp a thorn.

My blood, let by that tine’s indent,
. I give, and give again;
If love is worth one wooden cent,
. then it is worth the pain.

Love from ?????

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Go to this month’s first Poem-A-Day to learn how to participate in a game as part of this year’s series. You can have just a little involvement or go all the way and write a cento. I hope you’ll join in!

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Marie Marshall lives in Scotland. She is an author, poet, editor, and recluse. “I identify as the Log Lady from Twin Peaks.”

Marie’s poetry has been featured in many magazines, but she says she hasn’t submitted anything for several years, even though she continues to write. A little. She has had two collections published, Naked in the Sea and I am not a fish; the latter was nominated for a T.S. Eliot Prize. Her poems have appeared in some strange places — the wall of a cafe in Wales, etched into a drum in the New Orleans Museum of Art, pinned up in the portable toilets at Burning Man. She prefers to be known by her published and blogged work rather than in any other way.

“I’m awkward. In all senses of the word.”