Tag Archives: bigger than they appear

“Finding the Potato” by Andrew Merton

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Inside of one potato
there are mountains and rivers.

—Shinkichi Takahashi (trans. Harold Wright)

Bigger Than They ApearBut how to find that one potato
among all the others?
Patience, my friend.
Put your ear to the ground.
Dig where you hear thunder.

–Andrew Merton,
Bigger Than They Appear:
Anthology of Very Short Poems
(Accents Publishing)

 

Check out this piece about Andrew Merton from the Portland Press Herald.

andrew merton from lost and found store pageAndrew Merton is a journalist, essayist, and poet. Publications in which his nonfiction has appeared include Esquire, Ms. Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Boston Magazine, and The Boston Globe. His book Enemies of Choice: The Right-To-Life Movement and Its Threat to Abortion, was published by Beacon Press in 1980. His poetry has appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, The Rialto (U.K.), Comstock Review, Louisville Review, Vine Leaves, the American Journal of Nursing, and elsewhere. His book of poetry, Evidence that We Are Descended from Chairs, with a foreword by Charles Simic (Accents Publishing, 2012) was named Outstanding Book of Poetry for 2013–2014 by the New Hampshire Writers’ Project. He is a professor emeritus of English at the University of New Hampshire. His website is available here.

“Mea Culpa” by David Park Musella

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Bigger Than They ApearThe person I meant to become
would more easily forgive me
for not becoming that person
than the person I have become
ever could.

–David Park Musella,
Bigger Than They Appear:
Anthology of Very Short Poems
(Accents Publishing)

David Park Musella is an author, editor, and activist who originated in Buffalo, New York, and currently resides in Lexington, Kentucky.

“December” by Sarah Freligh

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Bigger Than They ApearOn the fire escape, one
stupid petunia still blooms,
purple trumpet blowing
high notes at the sky long
after the rest of the band
has packed up
and gone home.

-Sarah Freligh
Bigger Than They Appear:
Anthology of Very Short Poems
(Accents Publishing)

Sarah FrelighSarah Freligh is the author of Sort of Gone (Turning Point Books, 2008). Her work has appeared in The Sun, Rattle, Brevity, Barn Owl Review, Cimarron Review, Iowa Woman, Third Coast, Tar River Poetry, and Painted Bride Quarterly and on Garrison Keillor’s “Writer’s Almanac.” Among her awards are a 2009 poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, a poetry grant from the Constance Saltonstall Foundation in 2006, and an Artist’s Exchange grant from the New York State Council for the Arts in 1997. She is a visiting assistant professor of English and creative writing at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York.

Bigger Than They Appear Reading summary (Part 2)

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In 2012, the Lexington Public Library recorded and produced a reading held at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning. This event featured readings from Bigger Than They Appear: Anthology of Very Short Poems.

For the full list of videos, click here.

The poets were asked to read one of their poems as well as someone else’s. Below are the poets, the time stamp where they appear in the video, and the poems they read. Katerina Stoykova-Klemer is the emcee between poets.

“Flamingo” by Richard Schiffman

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Bigger Than They ApearPretty flamingo
in a pink spandex pants suit
perched upon a twiggy leg,
cradling a cell phone
in Grand Central.
As commuters pour
like Mongol hordes,
she tucks her head
beneath a wing
for better reception.

–Richard Schiffman,
Bigger Than They Appear
(Accents Publishing)

Richard Schiffman is a poet and author of two biographies. His “Spiritual Poetry Portal” can be found at multiplex.isdna.org/poetry.htm.

“Badger Eats” by Adam Day

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Bigger Than They ApearHere is Badger in a small room,
knotted nipples among a bed
of gray hair, the mud-caked
knuckles, gristle-mouthed
with a vole carcass, the moss-scummed
walls, the cellar door’s rusted
padlock, the wheeze of pulleys
outside, geese barking and dark
water under a shelf of snow.

–Adam Day,
Bigger Than They Appear
(Accents Publishing)

Adam Day is the recipient of a 2010 Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship for Badger, Apocrypha.

“Falling Off the Earth” by Gregory Luce

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Bigger Than They Apearis easier than you might think
sit in a small room dark or
dimly lit and avoid
the window (remember Chet Baker)
remain inside and don’t answer
the telephone you will fall
away or float up.

–Gregory Luce,
Bigger Than They Appear
(Accents Publishing)

Gregory Luce is the author of the chapbooks Signs of Small Grace (Pudding House Publications) and Drinking Weather (Finishing Line Press). He lives in Washington, DC.

“Note to an Ex” by Aimee Mackovic

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Bigger Than They AppearOur adopted philodendron
is taking over

the window sill, a survivor
thriving in August

heat, taking the direct sun
like a champ. I watch

each new leaf sprout
like a little waxy bullet.

Still, I water it daily,
like clockwork.

–Aimee Mackovic,
Bigger Than They Appear
(Accents Publishing)

Aimee Mackovic is the author of A Sentenced Woman (Finishing
Line Press, 2007). Currently, she is an adjunct instructor for Keiser
University and freelance writer.