Welcome to Poetically Yours. Poetically Yours normally showcases poems by northern Illinois poets, but this week’s poet is from California. Today’s contributor is Dublin, California’s, Poet Laureate Emeritus, James Morehead.
Morehead hosts the "Viewless Wings Poetry Podcast" and has published several poetry collections including "The Plague Doctor." His poem "tethered" was transformed into the award-winning animated short film "Twilight in the Sculpture Forest." It won best documentary at the Los Angeles Poetry Film Festival, and "gallery" was set to music for baritone and piano.
His work has been published in The Ignatian, Beyond Words, The Citron Review, The Ekphrastic Review, Loud Coffee Press, Havik, and other publications.
Morehead has performed at Patagonia’s Poet Laureate Celebration, Poetically Yours, and as a guest poet at the 20th Annual Haiku Festival.
Here's his poem "my childhood was spent in rehearsal."
in darkened theaters
pressed to silence
as my parents practiced
my mother’s breath
drew out her oboe’s sorrow
my father’s arms
danced with a conductor’s precision
i couldn’t be still
so i learned how to creep
without squeaks or scuffs
and slip through the shadows
to test the velvet brush of each seat
in the mezzanine / dress circle / balcony
surrounded by schoenberg / beethoven / debussy
and when the orchestra paused
alerted by my father’s baton taps
i imagined he was speaking to me in code—
pianissimo / a tempo / staccato
sending an urgent directive
that only i could decipher
while tucked invisible
in the very last row
Copy Edited by Eryn Lent
