This January, I attended the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, where I worked with Malena Morling, got to meet one of my favorite poets, Sharon Olds, made a good friend in fellow classmate Sarah McCann, and fell in love with a poet new to me, Claudia Emerson. Oh, and I was in Palm Beach in January--this, for a Minnesotan, was heavenly. Feel free to browse more photos from the week here.

The Carol Connolly Reading Series Friday, January 11, 2008 7:30 PM at Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts 6666 E River Rd, Fridley Free and open to the public

Hosted by Anna George Meek


Featuring:


Raised in the south, MOLLY SUTTON KIEFER currently teaches English in Red Wing, Minnesota where she lives with her husband. She received her BA in English at the University of Minnesota, where she is also currently studying for her Master's degree. Her poem "Harry Houdini" can be purchased as a poetry postcard broadside through Yes Press (www.yes-press.com). More information can be found at her website, http://www.mollysuttonkiefer.com/.


EMILY K. BRIGHT the author of Glances Back, a chapbook collection of history and storytelling. Originally from Connecticut, she lived in France and Ghana before settling in Minnesota. Her writing is fascinated by the original landscape we carry with us when we move to a new place. Emily will receive her MFA in poetry from the University of Minnesota this spring.
This Carol Connolly Reading is sponsored in part by Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts.

The literary magazine Dislocate has accepted my poem "Counting" for its spring issue.

Because the poem will be in print and not on the web, I'll also put the poem here, though you should buy a copy of the magazine when it comes out!:

Counting

One. They say there is a place where

your body remembers: the heat

that rose from your summer childhood,

the way the cicadas persisted in the trees and

at night, when power went out, your mother

placed fans up against screen doors.

At night, when the thunderstorm rolled in, you

counted each beat from flash to rumble, you thought

about swimming pools and how the safest place

to be was tangled in your covers, where the bogeyman

could not see you. Two.

But what of the bogeyman who places fans?

What of the monsters in the trees, the robins

with fangs (it’s there, I know

it’s there) and the crickets, the way the thighs

run furiously, anxiously? Three. The way

the night has a way of creeping, slowly,

around the room.

Four. They say when you get to five, it’s a mile

away and you can’t help but hope it gets closer,

so it can cover the fear, so you can

blame the barred doors on lightning, on keeping

the night out, not the mother. You do not

want to remember the biggest secret, you do not—

Five.

This fall semester, I'm working with the poet Jude Nutter through Intermedia Arts' Writer to Writer program.

I've begun writing a series of poems based on my grandfather who has Alzheimer's--all the poems are incredibly immediate and urgent.

Yes Press has published my poem "Harry Houdini" as a part of their poetry post card broadside series. I'm absolutely enamoured with their work.

(We got married!!)

Working with Carolyn Forche, the week the bridge collapsed. Split Rock Arts. More images here.

Carolyn has become a mentor for me, working with me through a series of poems, which I hope will become a chapbook. I am eternally grateful to her, this poet I've admired for so many years.