April Poem of the Month — Sharon Venezio

 

 

DISQUIETUDE

For two months I’ve been living with monks.
No longer dizzy from the circle of worry,
I see truth in the order of things,
eat for the body, not the senses.  Still

I crave the sky in my mouth, feel
Kerouac’s fabulous roman candles explode
like spiders beneath my skin, wake

yawning for coffee, daydream
of curry and spice, make poems in my head
about the wild dishevelment of being,
that fierce blue drowning.

Of the ten defilements, passion is the one
I can’t shake.  In a month, I’ll step out
of the forest, carry my longing home again.

 

Sharon Venezio received and MA in creative writing from San Francisco State University.  Her first full-length collection of poems, The Silence of Doorways, was released by Moon Tide Press in March 2013.  Her poems have appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, Chaparral, Midway Journal, Reed, Transfer, and elsewhere.  She is co-director of the Valley Contemporary Poets and works as a behavior analyst in Los Angeles. You can purchase her book here: http://www.sharonvenezio.com/books.php

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15th Anniversary Spotlight — Sharon Venezio

Each day for the 15 days leading up to the WAW Open House (October 7, 2012, 2-5 p.m.), we’re going to feature a current or former participant who’s completed a major project (book, film, album, academic credential). We’ll find out what they learned that helped them with their work.

Sharon Venezio, Poets At Work
Project: The Silence of Doorways (Moon Tide Press, 2013)

Terry Wolverton helped me understand the process of revision.   My earlier notion of revision was making minor edits by changing a word or two and being done with it.  My revision process has become more aggressive; I’m not afraid to cut lines or even stanzas if those words don’t serve the poem.  Revision is a way to push poems past their limit, stretch them out and open up a space for possibility. In short, Terry taught me how to dig deep and pay attention.

www.sharonvenezio.com