7-23-2024 4:08am

"I AM: Proud"--Poet Diane Funston--Hear Her Roar

Lesley Misko Editor

** Painting: "Emergence" mixed media by Karen Weber

Ed.: As part of Studio B Art Gallery's "I AM: Proud" project, local writers and artists were encouraged to respond to the theme.

by Diane Funston*

"Big Woman Speaks"

I am a big woman.
I don’t fit into little petty spaces,
cookie-cutter suburban homes,
the latest neighborhood gossip,
that trendy new thing everyone must have,
the long overpriced Starbucks line.

I am large.
I am free to go anywhere.
At any time of day.
No longer beholden to alarm clocks,
I eat what I want, I swallow the world,
ideas, words, poems, books.

I am sickened by television, by the news,
I spit out the negative and the whiners.
I scroll past the haters.
I am a big woman.
Beware.
I have just found my voice.

"Poetry Rises"

Poetry rises from the deep
From four chambers
of a beating heart
beneath alluvial plains
in the thick of it,
the daily mundane,
muck and malaise
birth to remains
mantle to crust.

It crawls up the sleeve
moves via the drains
through sewers of shit,
yesterday’s grand celebratory
meals, the vomit of betrayal
fresh from the last goodbye

It’s the bottom of wastebaskets
Kleenex sopped with tears
all the way back
to original loss
long evaporated
but leaving a stain still
crying out with memories
so loud no one will hear

Poetry is that perfect landscape
fertilized, pruned, admired
from a distance
especially by those
who didn’t break sweat over shovel
didn’t get hands dirty
or lure snails with pans of piss beer

It’s that stretch of untouched forest
green as her eyes in early
years when you tangled
fingers in hidden hair
her hands at your sides
where branches caress now
as you remember the coyotes
yip and yap in unison

That un-birthed child within
grows, edits, gestates
a life separate from yours
yet created in your image
painful as it emerges
into the light where
there is still so much development
before it is fully mature

It’s the stuff dreams are made of
unconscious wishes
unseen in daylight
do-overs and discoveries
doomsday and delight
it’s sheer creation
it’s the beginning

where all poetry comes from

"Someone Else’s Poem"

There is a war far away
Over there
Always one
At times more
Oppression
Stolen land
Bloodied children
20.000 dead
more starving

I could write
a poem about war
but that would be
someone else’s poem to write
not mine

Climate change
Global warming
Temperatures
breaking records
Natural disasters
Losing
Polar bears
Scientific fact

I could write
a poem about climate change
but that would be
someone else’s poem to write
not mine

Women's Rights
More specifically
Men’s wrongs
Subjugation
Suffrage
Choice
Violence
I could write
a poem about Women's Rights
but that would be
someone else’s poem to write
not mine

Politics
It’s all about politics
Winning votes
Shaking hands
Dirty dealing
Marked cards
Kissing ass
Don’t be fooled…

I could write
a poem about politics
but that would be
someone else’s poem to write
not mine

Life
Omnipresent
Ugliness
and beauty
I will write
in response to
not in ignorance of

inequality
politics of relationships
love and nature
themselves not always
beautiful

I will write my poems
in the margins

not breaking the headlines

* Diane Funston has been published in journals including California Quarterly, Lake Affect, F(r)iction, Tule Review, San Diego Poetry Annual, among others. She served two years as Poet-in-Residence for Yuba-Sutter Arts and Culture Her chapbook, “Over the Falls” was published by Foothills Publishing in 2022.

** Artist Karen Weber comments on "Emergence": Something comes into view, the birth of ideas, the manifestation of something new. You know, this can be uncomfortable, in which case release is necessary. There are many layers to this painting starting with the textured panel, then layers of acrylic, charcoal , spray paint and finally oils. I thoroughly enjoyed painting this guy, mid roar, or maybe just mid yawn.. Either way...a lot of fun.

****

Studio B has previously published 10 anthologies of poetry, prose, and art from local writers and artists. Copies are available through Amazon and Lulu Press. Further details can be found on studiobbb.org.