This week we are honored to have Martina Reisz Newberry return to the show. We discuss her poem Glyphs in the Canyon from her new book Glyphs. We reflect on life's questions of reincarnation, thoughts, dreams, and perceptions.
Martina Reisz Newberry is the author of 7 books of poetry. Her most recent book is GLYPHS, due out in May 2022 from Deerbrook Editions. She is also the author of BLUES FOR FRENCH ROAST WITH CHICORY, available from Deerbrook Editions, the author of NEVER COMPLETELY AWAKE ( from Deerbrook Editions), WHERE IT GOES (Deerbrook Editions), LEARNING BY ROTE (Deerbrook Editions), RUNNING LIKE A WOMAN WITH HER HAIR ON FIRE: Collected Poems (Red Hen Press), and TAKE THE LONG WAY HOME (Unsolicited Press).
Newberry has been included in The Cenacle, Cog, Blue Nib, Braided Way, Roanoak Review, THAT Literary Review, Mortar Magazine, and many other literary magazines in the U.S. and abroad. Her work is included in the anthologies Marin Poetry Center Anthology, Moontide Press Horror Anthology, A Decade of Sundays: L.A.'s Second Sunday Poetry Series-The First Ten Years, and many others in the U.S. and abroad.
She has been awarded residencies at Yaddo Colony for the Arts, Djerassi Colony for the Arts, and Anderson Center for Disciplinary Arts.
Passionate in her love for Los Angeles, Martina currently lives there with her husband, Brian, a Media Creative.
THE GLYPHS IN THE CANYONS
I’ve forgotten those times between
wakefulness and dozing and sleep.
I know something happened,
but I can’t recall what it was.
It’s like trying to recall where
I was just before I was born.
My friend tells me that this is the
reason I should never fear death.
She says, “You don’t know where you
were before you were born, so why
fret about where you’ll be after
you die?” This is wisdom I can
acknowledge, but from which I glean
no comfort and it is comfort
I want more than nearly any
thing. I want the great eyes of God to
turn my tears to opals and the
great tongue of God to tell me that
life and death are the same--that I
will keep loving and making love, and
walking and humming, and wanting
and holding, and will never lose
my appetite for joy or for
potato chips and onion dip and ice cream.
Between wakefulness and dozing
and sleeping, what is there to know?
Who do I serve awake/asleep?
Who do I honor when I doze?
And why is wakefulness the stain
on all this embalmed paradise?
Her previous episode on Poetic Resurrection can be listened to here.
(We are part of the Amazon Associates program and proceeds go back into the podcast)
Her other books are also available on Amazon and other book retailers.
