Marie Tollstrup hails from
Phlox, Wisconsin. At fourteen, she joined a convent and taught as a nun for ten years
in the Chicago area. When she left the order, she continued teaching for 29
years in Long Beach, CA, specializing in Creative Writing, where she advised a
national award winning literary/art magazine, Stylus, for 23 years. Now in retirement, she manipulates
words in poetry and prose, entering contests, and to her joy wins recognition
as a writer and poet. Currently, she is the contest clerk for Redrock Writer’s
national Chaparral Poetry Contest and is a member of UTSPS's Dixie Poets in St. George.
Black Swan
Obsidian as midnight,
procrastination lifts
its feathered head
and stares me down.
Cowering, I bow my head.
Stories, poems, novels
never birthed in light,
glide as ghost-witnesses.
My own twin swans
compete for dominance
my luminous self
over-shadowed by ebony.
Hollow emptiness rules.
Segmented time sifts
through my fingers.
My divided-self defers.
Faust’s two souls jostled.
Bismarck’s crowd
quarreled.
Victor Hugo wrote naked,
clothes hidden by his
valet.
Lifting radiant plumage,
my shy white swan,
heeding extended will,
subdues my sable beast.
Congratulations my dear sister. I am glad that your swan piece is featured here. It artfully portrays that you have conquered and overcome your surname legacy---Checkal, meaning "one who waited". The procrastination stigma has been vanquished and your shining swan is gleaming. Your loving sister, Jeanne
ReplyDeleteWhen is the flyer for this year's Utah poetry contest coming out? They usually
ReplyDeleterelease it leaving two months to work on it, it's the most difficult out of all
the poetry contests. And any release dates for either Panorama?