Category Archives: this & that

Poetry: I Loved You From Another Star by Rosebud Ben-Oni

Girl waiting on bench bus stop illustration

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I Loved You from Another Star

He’s always coming back, our neighbor, never quite here.
His wife, who teaches English, will never leave Seoul,

so he’s present part-year
                               past-participle— a joke he tells without a face.

We watch
his cat Monkra who looks exactly like our cat, who also wakes him
before sunrise, whining for food. Call him Momo for short,
and we do, no questions. He deals in import-export,

never carries a briefcase, only a pamphlet
of English grammar his wife authored.

He says she doesn’t understand

what I do for a living,

that poetry is for children and nine-tailed foxes

favored in Korean dramas that he and I discuss in secret,
away from our disapproving spouses.

read more at Berfrois

Rosebud Ben-Oni

New Poems Published in “Melusine”!

Very excited and honored this morning to say that I have two poems included in the winter issue of Melusine, a journal for women in the 21st century (but not just for women, and not just including women). Huge respect and thanks to editor Janelle Elyse Kihlstrom, and I’m especially pleased because I love the work of two other poets in this issue – Mary Cresswell and Simon Perchik (I’ll  link Mary’s poem below along with mine).

Dear Peter

I came home tired from China.
You were a sudden warmth on a violet doorstep –

Present and tender, with a smudge of laughter.
Closer than calluses, you sway me and
I fall.

read more

Check out Mary’s “Spy Story” poem here.

R. City – Make Up (Lyric Video) ft. Chloe Angelides

Dance, baby. Dance.

Poem: Figure and Ground

I try to understand the small outside I let in that year:
artichoke, orchid, what was beautifully composed. I admired
every sentence he spoke and the valleys of grape
Lauren Camp, Heron Tree

Wiz Khalifa Puts His Own Spin on Adele’s “Hello”

Pure, raw talent

Poem: ‘Father’ by Jessica Piazza

Befall

A door is alarming, left open. A leaving;
belief that the exited party will memorize
reasons to find you again. And then. When
it happens, what Saturdays. What planned
activities. What woman that rends your
days. What ways you insist that your hair
can be combed and your failings cannot
be recorded.

read more

Tumbledown Trailer feat. Jason Sudeikis and Rebecca Hall

I love everything about this.

The Truths Only Starlings Will Speak

Wings rutting through dust like glittering, 
            hardened sky, I’m fool enough to believe 
                          this bird’s dying, not sunning—body unfurling

like a gasoline stain, acrid iridescence rushing 
            asphalt that could fry an egg to savory silk.

I drop to my knees as he arches and lashes, 
            scapulars open as mantle feathers curl and lilt. 
                        He’s a Japanese fan, throat tucked flush, tail

an untamed fractal spent as the heat striating 
             him.

read more

Sara Henning, Thrush

Caffeinated Book Review: ‘The Rosie Project’, A Romantic Comedy

rosieprojectThe Rosie Project

Such an unexpected delight, Graeme Simsion’s novel is a fast-paced, surprising read as unconventional as its narrator, the OCD, brilliant genetics professor Don Tillman. Keep pace with him as he hilariously – with vulnerability and flashes of self-awareness and humor – attempts to find the perfect wife, while also solving a mystery for the unconventional Rosie who keeps popping up in his life. The straightforward narrative and dialogue will draw in non-chic-lit readers while romance fans will be charmed by the ebb and flow of a romance told from a male perspective. So fun and cleverly written, I hugely enjoyed the side discourses on genetics, psychology, and cocktail mixing – a novel with a brain. This is being adapted into a film (Jennifer Lawrence was originally attached to play Rosie but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts) which I’m very excited to see it when it’s ultimately released.

‘This Love Came Back to Me’ – Doctor and Clara

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