Images by kenne
Wendy seems like a close friend. We have met only on special occasions. Birthday parties, Emily Dickinson birthday parties. So often over the years, Wendy is my picture of Emily. Why not? I have photos of Wendy on those special occasions when we shared our appreciation and love for Emily Dickinson’s poetry. As much as I may love poetry, it is the spoken word that really touches me. Only then can I see the poets mannerisms, hear the voice annunciation and feel the emotions of the moment. Wendy came to fill the void through which Emily and I have become friends. Wendy has added color to sepia, she is my muse.
So, it’s no wonder that when Wendy was schedule to read her own poetry at a Writers In Performance Series last December, I could help but feel that Emily Dickinson was coming to read Wendy Barker. Think about it. How wonderful! My muse meets the goddess.
At the December series, Wendy read from her recent novel in prose poems, Nothing Between Us. For this “Capturing the Word” posting, I have chosen to share Wendy’s prose poem, “Sunday Morning, Go for A Drive:”
Up the coast. Or down. Bring the binoculars. Get out of town. Breathe.
Always hungry before we got where we were going. Stinson Beach,
Bolinas, Point Reyes. Greg would want a big meal—two cheeseburgers,
double order of fries, a full pitcher of Bud. I’d want a tuna sandwich,
banana, orange juice. No matter how I’d try to focus the binos,
no matter what rock I scrambled up on, I could never spot the bird I
wanted to see up close. Feathers confused among breaches and twigs.
The wind off the water roughing my hair. And Greg’s voice, breath
smelling of tannic acid, saying hurry it up, time to go.
kenne
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Reblogged this on Becoming is Superior to Being and commented:
I just learned this morning from my good friend Dave Parsons on Facebook that Wendy Barker died recently. Dave wrote:
“I am in shock and pain learning that my longtime friend and co-editor has died. The memories flood back. She was our first Emily Dickinson scholar when we began the annual Emily birthday celebration. Unlike many of us, her poems got better and better…her last books were brilliant, and “Weave,” her latest new and collected, is a true treasury of her life’s work. I am reminded of the indispensable Carol King album, “Tapestry.” She had the most incredible empathetic heart…irreplaceable spirit.”
Over the years, I took many photos and videos of Wendy reading her poetry at the Writers In Performance Series. She was a beautiful person. This reblog from August 2010 contains a link to a December 2009 posting, including one of the videos. She was so much a part of our Emily Dickinson Birthday Celebrations. — kenne