Maria Gapotchenko in 3QD

How wonderful to see that the blog 3 Quarks Daily ("3QD is smart and high-class."—Robert Pinsky, former U.S. Poet Laureate) has selected a poem from one of our Boston Poetry/Pen & Anvil publications for this week's Sunday Poem pick. The piece, "Third Person" by Maria Gapotchenko, was originally published in Clarion #15.

In Third Person

a haze a heron in a tide-pool
and for a long time out of time
two children push a giant yellow globe

coyotes come and every June the same
the unrequited loneliness the same
out-of-tune expressions herons dance
the same blue wings
                           it all made sense
the way he asked me for the Book of Job
to make some pattern make some rhyme
out of his life before he die
the way he scrutinized his patterned robe

when he did die it's simply that he sensed
there was no more to do no other dance
to be composed no present tense

MAZER IN EYEWEAR

Ben Mazer -- who was interviewed in last spring's Clarion by Liza Katz -- has a new hypnotic, brimful poem in Todd Swift's online magazine, Eyewear. A pair of lines as amuse-bouche:

The Botticelli bursts another spring.
It is of florentine silks that I shall sing.

 Mazer's recent collection from The Pen & Anvil Press, POEMS, is now on the shelf for sale at St. Mark's Bookshop in Manhattan's Bowery neighborhood. Support small press publishing, and pick up a copy or tell a friend to do the same.

CAMBRIDGE POETRY FESTIVAL

The Cambridge Poetry Festival begins Sunday, April 3, in Jill Brown-Rhone Park in Central Square (across from Luna Café, 403 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge) from noon until 2 p.m., with readings by the four finalists "campaigning" to be the next Cambridge Poet Populist: Toni "Bee" Brooks, Irene Koronas [a Clarion contributor], Scott Ruescher, and Jeff Walker. The Festival continues throughout the day with open-mic poetry and musical performances at different venues throughout Cambridge and at the main branch of the Cambridge Public Library. All events are free. To learn more about the Cambridge Poetry Festival, and about the Cambridge Poet Populist Election, visit the Poet Populist's webpage, email him, or call the Cambridge Arts Council at 617-349-4380.