Marilyn Stablein
Composition
4 a.m.
Water Dreams
I open a sliding glass door that overlooks a lake front deck to let a fresh breeze blow through my office. Suddenly pages fly off a manuscript and land in the water!
I grab at sheets as they swoosh by but they quickly slip beyond reach. One floats on the surface; another sinks. A turtle crawls over a waterlogged poem. A dozen loose pages escape leaping out of the water like dolphins.
When I dip my hand in to rescue a page slimy black leeches slither by so I change my mind.
#2 The Lecture
I arrive late at a Celtic Club meeting and take a chair in the front row. During the lecture I overhear the hostess on her cellphone talking to her son.
“Don’t feed the sponges!” she warns. I glance out the window and notice a river in front of the building.
Instantly I’m in the river waddling like an alligator on my hands, dragging my torso behind me. The river is shallow so to get entirely submerged I need to lie down. I carry a plastic bag of corn bread to feed the sponges.
“Do sponges have mouths?” I suddenly worry. “Do they like corn bread?”
Crow Talk
Marilyn Stablein is an artist working in collage, assemblage and artist books. Her art appears on the covers of Rattle magazine, Gargoyle, Malpais Review, Raven Chronicles and in books and journals. Book Arts Editions recently published a monograph of her artist books, Bind, Alter, Fold. She is also the author of twelve books including Sleeping in Caves: A Himalayan Memoir and Climate of Extremes: Landscape and Imagination. She lives in Portland, Oregon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Stablein
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Water Dreams
I open a sliding glass door that overlooks a lake front deck to let a fresh breeze blow through my office. Suddenly pages fly off a manuscript and land in the water!
I grab at sheets as they swoosh by but they quickly slip beyond reach. One floats on the surface; another sinks. A turtle crawls over a waterlogged poem. A dozen loose pages escape leaping out of the water like dolphins.
When I dip my hand in to rescue a page slimy black leeches slither by so I change my mind.
#2 The Lecture
I arrive late at a Celtic Club meeting and take a chair in the front row. During the lecture I overhear the hostess on her cellphone talking to her son.
“Don’t feed the sponges!” she warns. I glance out the window and notice a river in front of the building.
Instantly I’m in the river waddling like an alligator on my hands, dragging my torso behind me. The river is shallow so to get entirely submerged I need to lie down. I carry a plastic bag of corn bread to feed the sponges.
“Do sponges have mouths?” I suddenly worry. “Do they like corn bread?”
Marilyn Stablein is an artist working in collage, assemblage and artist books. Her art appears on the covers of Rattle magazine, Gargoyle, Malpais Review, Raven Chronicles and in books and journals. Book Arts Editions recently published a monograph of her artist books, Bind, Alter, Fold. She is also the author of twelve books including Sleeping in Caves: A Himalayan Memoir and Climate of Extremes: Landscape and Imagination. She lives in Portland, Oregon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Stablein
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