In Brief - Litrus Magazine

| bluebird | air to fork | bruise | candy | Chimes of wind | internet cast | Dance | Joshua Trio | sun in the sky | mainframe | mariachi man | mis-fire | music | never | Pagoda | sex | Smile | Soup | time is a sick one | trail | TV box | Walk out of the door | talk your eyes | Love in the 21st Century |

Sometimes less is more, especially in the case of a compressed writing form like poetry. In order to get the students of Litrus—and myself—used to saying big things in a succinct way, we experimented a bit. An in-class workshop on haiku yielded a fascinating variety. I printed out images ranging from bucolic scenes of nature to a still from the 1931 film “Dracula,” in which Bela Lugosi prepares to chomp into the neck of a mesmerized young woman.

Apparently, following a strict structure (three lines, clocking in at five, seven, and five syllables, respectively) does not keep a

writer’s individual voice from coming through. In “Joshua Trio,” for instance, Rebecca Linton, one of Litrus’ finest poets, displayed her trademark mixture of surrealism, humor and wistfulness. Another day, we read short, image-rich Aztec poetry, in which phenomena such as rainbows, described as “seven snakes giving thanks,” are praised. Students were then challenged to write poetry in which no more than three words appeared on each line. Again, the results were gratifying. One of my favorite of these brief poems is “Chimes of Wind” by Patricia Ferrier, an artist and writer in her second semester as a Litrus staffer:

Chimes of wind,
a hesitant sound.
The thunder roars,
a storm comes.

We’ve had a wonderful time keeping it short and simple. I hope all the writers and closet writers out there try out some similar exercises. And if you like what you come up with, send it on to Litrus. We are currently accepting work that for the second issue of the semester, and also planning ahead for the two online publications that will appear in the course of spring. Put our email citruslit@yahoo.com in your address book. We’d love to hear from you.

—Sarah Torribio, Litrus adviser

bluebird

in the morning
a bluebird comes
to my window to
sing me a good
morning song.

—Betsy Holmes

air to fork
soup to spoon
hunger

—Heather Baumann

bruise

soft
to the touch
proof
of the love
marks
casting blame

—Anthony Garcia

candy

child may smile
mother might scold
father will provide
for the cry-
ing darling
then back
to the game

—Anthony Garcia

Chimes of wind,
a hesitant sound.
The thunder roars,
a storm comes.

—Patricia Ferrier

dance

a gazelle in flight
no room for a mistake
beauty and grace

—Heather Bauman

internet cast
caught fishes
all TV
set
channel open
star hill
transmit
uno
uno
zero

—Rebecca Linton

Joshua Trio

What are you drawing?
A hairy Joshua tree.
Take me there, you spy.

You look so great, how?
I rub honey on my face.
Bees then attacked us.

Here in the desert
before the numb feet tingle
in the sun, whisper.

—Rebecca Linton

sun in the sky, and
dark cloud on the horizon
blink but it’s too late

—Anthony Garcia

mainframe

lab coat ironed, I
stroke this man-made entity
purring with logic

—Sarah Torribio

mariachi man
chattering teeth, yellow smile
sombrero on skull

—Jupiter

mis-fire

then the can blew up
an inferno swallowed them
the party ended

—Patricia Ferrier

music

happy time
reminiscent of old
memories I cry
dance dance dance
family fun fellowship
spiritual journey

—Tamala Kelly

never once was a
beautiful love such as you
flower in the mud

—Anthony Garcia

Pagoda

snow falls
Japanese house
cold day, gray sky

—Betsy Holmes

sex

bodies melt
mangled car wreck
city of L.A.
no information
exchanged

—Anthony Garcia

Smile

inside my heart
bruised and serrated
ripped by life

inside that heart
a faint beat
not like before

inside my heart
profound and real
no longer jammin’

inside our hearts
miraculously now mended
by unexpected smiles

—Desiree Smith

Soup

on a cold dark day, sick in bed,
there is one thing I like: soup
soup for the body, soup for the soul
yes, that’s what I like—something
to get me well.

—Betsy Holmes

time is a sick one
pulling at the heart strings, and
turning life to ash

—Anthony Garcia

trail

horizontal brown trail
vertical blue sky
peace

—Heather Baumann

TV box
Internet connected
Lost

—Heather Baumann

walk out of the door
never look back for fire burns
never, home is gone

—Anthony Garcia

talk
your eyes
when we
talk

engine on
(off)
engine on

your eyes
wjen we
talk

shhhh. . .

worry later
or not
at all

—Sarah Torribio

Love in the 21st Century

If you plan on giving me
a lifetime of devotion
I second that emoticon

—Sarah Torribio