Bloomsday Again

 21st Bloomsday

                for Pep

Today your death is

twenty-one years old.

An adult.

Today your death could

walk into a bar in Boston

and order a Sam Adams.

Today your death could

play blackjack at Encore

(which is only five, btw).

Today your death could

rent a car, adopt a child,

be a driver's ed instructor.

Today your death is

a college junior majoring

in grief management.

Today your death is

so big it would need

numeraled candles on its cake.

Today your death will

have just fifteen more

years to live.

Poetry Northwest Poem of the Week

A poem I translated from Mónica Ojeda's collection Historia de la leche

 is Poem of the Week at Poetry Northwest.

Read on Poetry Northwest

20 Years of Missing You

Dear Pep, 

Your daughter sent me this video this morning, 

while I was thinking what to write for you. She 

was thinking of you, missing you, sending me 

a virtual hug. Your brother took this, added 

the songs. A walk up to Can Nan with your 

nephew and your daughter. Like so many

walks. You found the biggest rovelló ever. 

Twenty Bloomsdays without you. 

Twenty years of missing you. 

Twenty years of you missing her. 

Look at that little girl. You would be 

so proud. 

Love, Kymm 

#143

What I Learned... for Paco, in memoriam

On the last day of 2023's January Writing Hours (thank you Kim Moore and Clare Shaw) I wrote this in response to the first prompt, based on Brad Aaron Modlin's poem "What You Missed That Day You Were Absent from Fourth Grade" - having learned the day before that my friend and half of my favorite publishers had died. Paco, you would not be surprised to find that, as always, it's all about me.

New England Poetry Club Honorable Mention

 The New England Poetry Club awarded Honorable Mention in the Diana Der-Hovanessian Prize, selected by Eric Hyett, to "Papa, you wanted a son" - my translation of a poem from Mónica Ojeda's collection Historia de la leche, (Editorial Candaya, 2020).

Hear me read 

Go here to read the poem at the New England Poetry Club 2022 Anthology page

Sant Jordi #24

    After the Hail 

          for Pep, 24 years later 

The apple tree died while I 

was gone, its bark stripped 

and fallen back to the pot, 

the largest one on the terrace.

Stark, nobby branches choked 

by equally dead morning glory 

tendrils hold sacs of seeds 

stiffly in the April wind. 

Both dead things remain 

to train the thick nasturtium 

stalks with their wealth 

of perpetual sunset. 

Opposite, the barely salvaged 

pine tree pushes its newborn 

needles towards the sun. They

follow east to south to west. 

Among all the dead branches 

in sunburned pots bursting 

with wild garlic, clover, asparagus, 

the surprise of this tall purple iris. 

 🐍🌹📚

Poesía en acción #17

 Better late than never!

Poesía en acción published my translation of two poems from Mónica Ojeda's Historia de la leche, along with the originals. 

Link to poems

There's also a micro interview with me.

Link to micro interview

I'm very grateful to Olivia Lott for the invitation, and grateful to Kate Hedeen of Action Books, who first encouraged me to pursue getting these poems published in English. And exceedingly grateful to Mónica for writing them and letting me translate them.

It's been a weird year and a half, but I'm grateful for a lot of things. Happy Thanksgiving!

🦃