Mercury Goes Right Through You

On September 3, 1809, Meriwether Lewis set out for Washington, D.C. Lewis carried his journals with him for delivery to his publisher. He had written his will before attempting suicide on this journey. He was restrained.

Lewis and Clark chewed on mercury for its laxative effects. Historians tracked America’s woody sternum using expedition shit, each proud cluster gleamed like a medal. The article reads Mercury Goes

Right Through You. I imagine a body impaled by a planet. Such light work this galaxy makes of bone, fat, muscle. Once, I drove through Colorado looking for happiness I left in a snow drift.

I stalled my car, tried to unbury its wheels with everything I had in the trunk: a bag of charcoal, overdue library books, a fishing net the snow passed through. I found only my appetite and left, walked clumsily towards the dark forest of my life. The wind blew a song I recognized. One we’d dance to in the living room. The tree line parted like an exit wound. I hummed harmonics.

Steven Espada Dawson is from East Los Angeles. The son of a Mexican immigrant, he is a former Ruth Lilly Fellow and Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing Fellow. He has served as a poetry editor for Copper Nickel and Sycamore Review and has taught creative writing at universities, libraries, and prisons across the country. His poems appear in many journals and have been anthologized in Best New Poets, Pushcart Prize, and Sarabande’s Another Last Call. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin, where he serves as Poet Laureate.

This Is Not a Villanelle

life is as if Elizabeth Bishop wrote it, and the poem is on repeat repeat repeat: loss, a violent form. loss, of violence formed. loss, a violation of form / meaning form meaning brings (and grief knows no form).

This is not a villanelle, but I am still losing keys, kingdoms, [meaning] and Mastery.

Emily Bowles

Emily Bowles has a Ph.D. in English and a Certificate in Women’s Studies from Emory University, where she studied the works of early modern women writers, including Margaret Cavendish, Aphra Behn, and Charlotte Lennox. She now works as grants manager for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Fox Valley. She’s a member of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets and has published two poetry collections with Finishing Line Press.

Join the Wisconsin Academy and partners for Bloom: a season of poetry, a series of poetry events in the spring of 2024 celebrating literature in Wisconsin. Showcasing the interdisciplinary power of the written and spoken word, Bloom will highlight poetry events across the state that illuminate perspectives, experiences, and the natural world.

CAPITAL VERSES SLAM POETRY FESTIVAL

April 11, 6:30-8:30 pm Madison College Goodman South Campus, Madison In partnership with Madison College, Capital Verses features nationally-recognized Andre Bradford, a.k.a S.C. Says. Austin-based, he is an Austin Poetry Slam Champion, 2022 Texas Grand Slam Champion, and author of Golden Brown Skin. Free, registration requested https://www.tickettailor.com/events/madisoncollege/1157822.

CLIMATE CHANGE STORY SLAM

April 20, 7-9 pm Madison Public Library, Central Branch, Downtown Madison Celebrate Earth Day with storytellers who will share stories about how climate change has affected their lives, how they have coped, and what they’re doing about it. This inspirational event is in partnership with Mad City Story Slam. Free. Registration requested https://www.wisconsinacademy.org/civicrm/event/register?id=507&reset=1.

POETRY READING

April 24, 7 pm, Woodland Pattern Book Center, 700 E. Locust St., Milwaukee, or online Featuring Laura Tohe, current Navajo Nation Poet Laureate and author of Tseyí / Deep in the Rock, Kimberly Blaeser, author of Ancient Light, and Elise Paschen, author of Tallchief. Presented as part of our series “Native Writers in the 21st Century” with support from the NEA. Free or give what you can. https://woodlandpattern.org/events.

Visual Poetry Workshop

April 27, 10 am-12 pm, Center for the Visual Arts, Wausau Celebrate National Poetry Month with a free art project for all ages. Enjoy extended gallery hours 10 am-4 pm. Learn the basics of blackout poetry, ekphrastic poetry, and more with Wausau’s Poet Laureate. No experience necessary. All supplies are provided. Free, no registration required.

Poetry And The Natural World

May 23, 7-8:30 pm, Playhouse Theater, Overture Center for the Arts, Madison, in-person and online via Zoom Join U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón for a reading and conversation with former Wisconsin Poet Laureate Dr. Kimberly Blaeser, followed by a book signing. This event focuses on the connections between nature, the changing environment, and poetry. Tickets required. $10-30. Registration required https://www.wisconsinacademy.org/ evenings/poetry-and-natural-world.

Find more details at www.wisconsinacademy.org/bloom-season-poetry