Forthcoming Poetry Books by Mina Kirby and Marlene Hitt

Moonrise Press will publish volumes by two Southern-California based poets: Mina Kirby and Marlene Hitt.  Both volumes are in preparation and will be finalized in 2015. They belong to the series of books by female poets that will be issued by the Moonrise Press.

MINA KIRBY 

Mina Kirby is a retired mathematics professor. She has survived a broken washing machine, a broken back and a broken heart, all of which provide rich material for writing poetry and stories. She has for many years been a folk singer and sometimes songwriter. Plagued with health problems in recent years, her writing is part of coming back to life. Mina is the author of several books, including Mathematical Dreams: Songs about Mathematics, a cookbook, and eight chap books. Her poetry has been included in Red Lights (tanka), The San Gabriel Valley Poetry Quarterly, and Poetry and Cookies. She has presented her poetry at a number of venues, including Pasadena Art Talk. She lives in Altadena with her husband, daughter, two cats, a pet rat, and too many spiders.

A Special Place

by Mina Kirby

It is warm here

Golden rays of sunshine

brighten green fields

fragrant with yellow flowers

The air sparkles

with hums of bees

and chirps of soaring birds

A gentle breeze ruffles my hair

In the distance

are sounds of an ocean’s roar

as it splashes against rocks

I could be here

yesterday

tomorrow

and today

I could be here in the sun

and the softly falling rain

in the cheerful daylight

and in the velvety darkness

I could be here with you

feel the warmth of your hand in mine

talk until the moon goes down

and stars sparkle in the night sky

We could walk

for miles and miles

absorbing the beauty

surrounding us

Or

I could be here alone

a little sadder

but content

as perhaps

some day

I will

cloaked in sunshine

remembering you

_____________________________________

MARLENE HITT

MARLENE HITT was the first Poet Laureate of Sunland Tujunga (1999-2001). She has been a member of the Chupa Rosa Writers of Sunland-Tujunga and the Foothills since its inception in 1985. In addition to poetry chapbooks, anthologies and readings, she has authored a non-fiction book "Sunland-Tujunga, from Village to City". She serves at the Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga as Museum Director and docent. In addition to her poetry activities, she has served as history writer for the Foothill Leader and the Glendale News Press, the North Valley Reporter, the Voice of the Village newspaper, and the Shadow Hills Property Owners Association newsletter. She has been honored as the Woman of Achievement by the Business and Professional Women's Club. She lives happily ever after with her husband Lloyd and an outdoor cat named Lautrémont.

SALT OF THE EARTH

Was I born with a curse, I the curious child?
Eyes, ears, fingers cursed?
My view sweeps over, above, below and behind,
I want to see.
A roar turns me to it, a bang turns my head.
The darkness of the desert engulfs me, I touch it
and it collides with my young body.

Today the earth shook and shook, tore itself
apart, threw out fire and brimstone.
Don’t look back, he told me, with
no explanation. My head turned of its own accord.
The grey blue of the Dead Sea was shattered
with its shaking, a river of fire poured forth
and I did watch it all, why should I not see
a thing never before seen?

Don’t look back, he’d said to me, at the evil
of Sodom and Gomorrah, 
run, he said, then he pulled me along.
It is said that I was covered with fire and brimstone.
There is a rumor that I yearned for the city
but I didn’t. An attack on my self that 
I did not obey!
I am a curious woman, that was my sin.

I have stood here for years and years mourning
my chance at life, my children, I, now 
the pillar of salt in the desert, stiff, my face
glistening these thousands of years.
It is said that my face wears resignation.
I see, I watch, all the days of all the years.
I watch a nation and I do see.

© 2007 Marlene Hitt