The Best of Farmhouse Magazine Anthology Vol. 1 2005-2008
My poem 4-Way Stop at Dusk is included in this anthology.
I read 4-way Stop at Dusk last night at my reading at Casa Azul and it was picked as a favorite by my good buddy Sam R. (age 13) Sam has good poetic sense. Very smart chap that Sam.
The story behind the poem, which I told last night: I was sitting in my car at the 4-way stop at Hwy 92 and Verot School Road with the sun almost completely down over the open field to my right. Against this backdrop, I spotted an American Kestrel on a wire, staring into the field. The bird dropped and skimmed the long grass. I turned left toward home and composed the poem in my head while driving the 2-3 miles home. When I got in the house I transcribed what was in my head and called it done. I squeezed out the metaphor “twilight is a pearl crushed in a raptor’s claw” I believe it to be one of my best. I strive for incisive, poetically-logical, and fantastical imagery. This poem balances those elements.
Don’t think you don’t get bruised or battered writing poetry, or worst killed for your thoughts and words—or have your spirit killed by mean-spirited poet-elites, poet-snobs. About a year and a half ago, mere days before my father died, a self-described “poet-critic” who saw the work told me personally it was nothing more than “prettyword vomit“ and ranted that it was worthless.
Sam’s admiration validated my hopes for the poem, which had been slightly dashed by the mean-spirited gobbledygook pseudo-criticism. Mike Dell’Aquila (editor of Farmhouse and the anthology) assured the poem’s vindication, by first selecting it as an Editor’s Choice nominee and for its inclusion in this exciting anthology.
Clare L. Martin 