Julia Park Tracey

Got a couple of nice notes and comments back about the poetry posted here. Thanks — and glad you liked it. FYI, these are from the collection that’s due to be published by Scarlet Letter Press this year. It was set for spring, but another book jumped ahead in line, so wait for it in early fall (September). Amaryllis is the title poem. Haven’t posted in a while, been super busy with new job at Alameda Magazine and Oakland City Magazine — associate editor at both mags, with intention of taking editor position at AM by end of the year. That’s the plan, so I hope it all falls together…

The curious at Red Hills Review are asking for examples of poetry so I’m posting a few of my own here. Indulge me, please. Science All the time I sat and listened while youchalked the board and marked the tests,paced beneath deer heads and the bobcat skeleton,diagrams of creatures with six legs,thorax, abdomen, thighsglistening wet with the rainbowof sweat, saliva, tasting,kneeling, mounting, rearing,backing into you, animal, plantedfirmly inside me, memory, desire, learning. Train to Bath I dozed against the hard pane.The Welsh man and his wife talked low:rumble, murmur,words indistinct in their marriage cant.Elves, he said, I thought I heard,or was it Elvis?Elves in Maidenhead, Twyford, Reading.Elvis in Didcot, Swindon,…

…is what they call it. I used to read Adair Lara in the San Francisco Chronicle every day, and I particularly loved the images she created of her mother, pinning out the wet clothes to dry and thinking of each child as she hung their shirts and jeans. I loved the images of her mother’s orangey-pink lipstick pressed onto Kleenex, a hundred kisses littering the tabletop. I wonder what images my children will have of me. We were laughing and laughing on the Fourth of July — my three daughters, one of their friends, and my beau, who had volunteered to barbeque for us. My eldest, the beautiful Miss M,…

…and I really mean it! The last few months have been an unbelievably hectic time, as the newspaper ramped up and took off, leaving my option of work-from-home virtually impossible. Instead of commuting the 100-mile roundtrip three times a week, I was driving it five days for work, plus most weekends as well. My only escape was when I could crash on an Alameda couch and save myself the late night/early morning turnaround. The point of moving my kids to Sonoma County in October was for a better standard of living — good schools, country living, safe streets, more time with grandparents and cousins. Unfortunately, the result was I was…

…sorry sorry sorry… My computer has crashed, I have been unable to access my blog or e-mail from home, or even pay my bills electronically. I apologize and will get back into the swing as soon as possible. Please be patient and check back periodically…I shall return!!!