Support Your Local Poets

(Photo by Leigh from Larrapin Garden.)

"Tis the season," to be gift-shopping for friends and family for whatever holiday you may celebrate. Maybe, like me, you buy the thing that pops out at you with their name on it whenever you see it, then just go ahead and give it to them. In any case, let me plug your local artists and artisans as a good place to begin your gift buying this year. Yes, I am saying this partly because I have a new book published. And yes, it is true that unless you are a Pulitzer Prize winning poet, you most likely won't make a lot of money selling it. Still, if crafting poetry (or anything) is what you love to do, then you really can't help yourself. It's simply a must-do.

When I worked as a bookseller off and on over the past 15 years, I had a little trick I used to play. When I rang someone up who had a book of poetry or two in their pile, I would ask, "Do you write poetry?" Inevitably they would answer with a pleased "Yes." Poets read poetry. At least most of them do. And they buy books full of poems. (This is Mendy logic.) Therefore, if you would like to write poetry or get better at it, you should buy books of poetry, too!

In my household, we are doing our best to buy local--food, crafts, art, books, CD's, gifts--whatever we can find that is made here or near Fayetteville, AR, or has been created by people we know. We want them to live well and prosper. We want them to get famous. Besides, we find the best stuff this way. I went to a little, tiny craft show in Benton, AR with my sister who was visiting from Baltimore last weekend. They had the coolest things made from their own bright ideas. Their items were totally useful and beautiful, as well. Plus they were cheap. I was happy to pay their asking price and tell them I loved what they were doing. This is good business; when everyone walks away happy.

So when you go to a concert, don't just listen to the show. Buy the CD. When you go to the reading of a local author, buy the book (at your independent bookstore, of course). When you're visiting Underground Art, Terra Studios, or the Farmer's Market, buy the crafts and art from the people who created them. I have made so many people happy with the gifts I've given from exactly these places. So, yes, if you can, buy my book. You won't be sorry. And to tempt you further, I will give you a gift in this post. Here is the last poem in my book, and no doubt the most famous. It has been read by thousands of people. No lie. So here it is; a teaser to make you want my book, partly because everyone needs A Little Lazarus in their lives.

Leaving

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Matthew 6.28-29

On a hill above Saluda beside Pacolet Falls I lay

gazing though a screen of birch at the remnants of the day.

Not a breath, not a whisper stirred the air when,

like a camera changing focus, my stare shifted

caught the falling leaves that drifted onto clothing

slowly sifted, then gifted me, a weary warrior

with feathers for my hair.

Suddenly, I must know how each leaf fell

and how they felt about their circling descent

from heaven down to hell.

Surely after all that time so close to sky

the ground must seem an alien and far-off place to die.

No breeze shook them from their tenacious holds.

That same thin strength that held them

throughout a summer’s storms seemed gone.

But wait... there goes one on fiery wings of gold!

Why, they’re leaping from their limbs,

they’re not just letting go!

They’re taking turns and laughing,

they seem tickled by the sun,

as if today was a leaf parade and they’re falling just for fun.

Bright red, burnt orange, soft yellow–

all dressed in Sunday finery

as they loose their perches fearlessly

for the first and last time flying

whirling, twirling, spinning ‘round,

singing Hallelujahs until they gently kiss the ground.

I want to learn to leave my life as gracefully as they.

May my certain passing from this place

come to me this way--

Let me leap into forever like a well thought out adventure

leave rejoicing in the splendor of a brilliant autumn day.

—from A Little Lazarus by Mendy Knott. Published by Half Acre Press, 2010. Copyright Mendy Knott. To order your copy with free shipping click here.