Funeral for Clark Glacier - JW James
we journeyed over fields with ghosts where
they held a funeral for Clark Glacier on South Sister
we all thought a glacier was a broken record now we are broken hearted
in my dreams glaciers are weeping then gone
we pared our nails shaved our heads in mourning
glaciers clawing gold veins in the earth like masterpieces
abstract expressionist ancient powers
we handed round boxes of kleenex an ocean of tears would not bring back Clark
the news was stunning the day was dusty I had a hangnail I always have hangnails
a sign of nervousness a sign of frustration
eclipse and sinew beeswax doublemint gum the ghost
of Clark Glacier a force field of loss we pass out ribbon candy
from a glass candy dish on my grandmother's coffee table the ribbon candy is eternal
and tastes like my birthplace Auburn before I was an Oregonian
living near volcanic fields and waterfalls
the demise of glaciers
all the manifestations of Cascadia
I am a 65 year old Irish Jewish lesbian poet whose life was waylaid and bowled over but not under from chronic disabling illness. However, the way I became a poet was through learning how to live an underground life as a poet. My bio is not full of places I’ve been or schools I’ve graduated from. I have had a rich life in Santa Cruz reading my work in cafes and co-creating a women’s writing collective, Tribe Through Time. Currently, I live in Eugene, Oregon.
I’ve had work published in Lingo, American Writing, Many Mountains Moving, Common Lives/Lesbian Lives, and more. My book-length visionary poem won the Mellen Press contest for Literature as Ecstatic Vision. They published my book, Fish Dreams in 2004.
My favorite poetry right now is being published by Milkweed Editions in their Multiverse Series. I’m telling everybody! These are non-speaking, autistic, mad, neuroqueer poets. Another way to be and create poetry. Another way of knowing.
