Joan Colby
Remittance
A collision of red convertibles
Turns a crucifix into a salver
Of shared misery. Byzantine icons
Ruin Tolstoy’s veranda. The stations
Of the cross where pilgrims kneewalk
On the way to Guadalupe. Orange trees
On the mind of the stricken
Novitiate. Leaves burning like
October masturbations. Publicans
Open the doors of history. Pour
Everyone a single malt. Shine
The patent shoes of the proletariat.
Grime on the handlebars. Gales
On the high seas of erudition.
Comfort me with apples as the good
Book advises. Chapters of hemlock
Or woe.Corrugations. Endless wars
Of attrition. Starting gates or slot
Machines.Nickles, dimes, Japanese
Lanterns or dragon masks. Who presumes
To ski a parable or honeytalk a cipher.
Empty beds. Armless identities.
A sky full of ambush. Nothing left
But to confess.
Joan Colby has poems published in many journals including: Poetry, Atlanta Review, GSU Review, Portland Review, Rockhurst Review, South Dakota Review, The Spoon River Poetry Review, Karamu, New York Quarterly, the new renaissance, Grand Street, Epoch, Mid-American Poetry Review, Prairie Schooner, Kansas Quarterly, The Hollins Critic, Minnesota Review, Western Humanities Review, College English, Another Chicago Magazine and others. She is the recipient of the Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Literature; Illinois Arts Council Literary Award, Stone County Award for Poetry, Rhino Poetry Award, the new renaissance Award for Poetry. Finalist in the 2007 GSU Poetry Contest. Honorable mention in the 2008 and 2010 James Hearst Poetry Contest (North American Review), Finalist in 2009 Margie Editor’s Choice Contest, Finalist in 2009 Nimrod International Pablo Neruda Prize. Illinois Arts Council Literary Award 2007. She is the editor of Illinois Racing News for over 25 years, a monthly publication for the Illinois Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Foundation, published by Midwest Outdoors LLC. She lives with her husband and assorted animals on a small horse farm in Northern Illinois.
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