My poems "The Other Lives" and "The Keystone Out of Your Arch" have been accepted by Climbing Lightly Through Forests, the forthcoming poetry anthology in tribute to Ursula K. Le Guin edited by R.B. Lemberg and Lisa M. Bradley (Aqueduct Press).
The first of these poems is a reprint; it was written for R.B. in 2016 after a conversation about The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) and published later that year in The Cascadia Subduction Zone 6.4. The second is new; it was written the year Le Guin died; it takes its title from a line in "Brothers and Sisters," my favorite story of the Orsinian Tales (1976) and possibly my favorite story of Le Guin's full stop. "Knocked the keystone out of your arch, didn't it?" one character says to another on the second page, describing the suddenness of an event that permanently alters the landscape of their lives; he has absolutely no idea how much. "Wham! One rock falls, they all go." I will say more when it's published and can be read against my comments on it, but the poem is personal to the point that it's easier to discuss the fictional character in it than to discuss myself, so it seemed especially important to have it out in the world: that was the weight Le Guin's work had for me.
I am honored to have work of mine published in her memory. Expect further shouting as more information about the anthology is announced. It's a project I am so glad people are making exist.
The first of these poems is a reprint; it was written for R.B. in 2016 after a conversation about The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) and published later that year in The Cascadia Subduction Zone 6.4. The second is new; it was written the year Le Guin died; it takes its title from a line in "Brothers and Sisters," my favorite story of the Orsinian Tales (1976) and possibly my favorite story of Le Guin's full stop. "Knocked the keystone out of your arch, didn't it?" one character says to another on the second page, describing the suddenness of an event that permanently alters the landscape of their lives; he has absolutely no idea how much. "Wham! One rock falls, they all go." I will say more when it's published and can be read against my comments on it, but the poem is personal to the point that it's easier to discuss the fictional character in it than to discuss myself, so it seemed especially important to have it out in the world: that was the weight Le Guin's work had for me.
I am honored to have work of mine published in her memory. Expect further shouting as more information about the anthology is announced. It's a project I am so glad people are making exist.
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