Introductions
EDITOR’S NOTE: Twitter can be a whirlwind of woe. It can also be a place of discovery. I’ve made it a point to seek out poets, illustrators, essayists, photographers and other creatives who work in or are inspired by West Virginia. I recently came upon the work of poet, photographer, and illustrator Kiley Lee of Paden City WV. Here’s what she says of the pieces below ~ Douglas John Imbrogno
KILEY LEE: “’Canary Call’ was written about my hometown of Paden City and the water crisis that’s been an ongoing problem for decades. Industrial grade cleaners have been found in the city water supply, and even though it has repeatedly been found to be above the legally allowed limit, somehow the local government has gotten away with sweeping the problem under the rug. Steps are reportedly being taken to fix the problem now. The second poem, ‘Portrait of Recipients,’ speaks for itself. I’ve also included two photos taken in Paden City. The first is ‘Bigfoot is Blurry’ (the title is a nod to the late comedian Mitch Hedberg); and the second ‘After Candy Rain’ (another nod, this time to the WV rock band Hello June) is of an eerie midday fog over the Ohio River at Paden City Park.”
Canary Call
I couldn’t draw from my well
It’s been sullied with parachute attempts
to chemical clean my mountain peaks
to make sure creation doesn’t look like my cousin
to consummate a culture that never lived
How dare I learn my mother’s language
or put up lights and chimes
to remember which house is mine
or go against the flow
because my thirst will always have a price
Will living water wash the forks in roads
the shameful stains on backbone ridges
or the splintered shoulders swollen —
holy only because the gate was never closed?
These broken eye teeth search the skies
for some unknown warning
screaming from twisted lights and
cell phone signal call trees
“Tell two more people
death is coming”
“Portrait of Recipients”
How eyes see us
searching through forests and
over seas for something to
cut our teeth on
I draw them to edges
so we may live a full life
together
Blood-crumbs
in the clearing
in the taming
in the sky
When our hands meet
over waves of extremes
who will speak?
Listen:
Hello.
We are all burning.
BIO
Kiley Lee is a Pushcart nominated poet and artist, with work in multiple publications and exhibitions across the United States. She’s from Almost Heaven, West Virginia, and loves staring at the clouds. She tweets as @KBogart10. See more of her work here: linktr.ee/kileylee
MORE READINGS
READINGS |’The Question That Stripped My Daddy of His Manhood’: “I felt his shame and embarrassment. It was not my intent to shame or embarrass my daddy. But he heard the anger and reprimand in my voice. You know. Don’t-let-anyone-take-advantage-of-you kind of reprimand …”
READINGS | “Please Take Care of My Friend: Heart Advice from a Stranger”: “Don’t drive if you’re upset. Don’t beat yourself up. Know you’re lovable and inspire others even if you’re not feeling it. Meditate. Sing. Even badly. It changes the brain right away “
READINGS | A Stroll Deep into a West Virginia Marsh: If it’s true we are mother, father, sister, brother, related all to all, maybe that’s one way to comprehend and befriend the ten thousand things. The hundreds of voices, cries, and songs rising from this manifold marsh.
VIDEO READINGS| “Terracotta Tile,” a prompted tale by Connie Kinsey: “Hewas rage and she was ennui. She picked up her glass and took a sip. The wine tasted bitter. She couldn’t remember when he had last been happy. He stood in front of her. Silent, but radiating a need to speak. “What?” she said softly.
READINGS | Ruminations of a Coal Miner’s Ex-wife Wife : “Living here in Southern WV is very much like not being able to see the forest for the trees. So much of what went wrong in my marriage went wrong because my then-husband was being exploited and made to think that he had the good life. No—he was made to think he had the best life. He couldn’t say no.”
READINGS | COVID-19, Day 77: Yes, I’m Waiting: “We are front porch people, but I have to make do with a flat section of mulch and an oversized Adirondack chair the ex-husband made me when he was still a husband.”
HAPPY MOONSHINE DAY |Part 2: “The Plum”: We call it The Plum. It’s the prettiest moonshine we make. The shine is made from my PawPaw’s PawPaw’s recipe in a copper still just like it was a hundred years ago. In each jar, we put 13 sweet plums from the trees my great-aunt planted after the ’37 flood…
