Austin's poem was published in an online poetry magazine
“The Relationship of One Half, One, Two,” a poem by Austin, a Creative Writing Student at Idyllwild Arts Academy, appears in the January issue of Quill & Parchment, an online poetry magazine.
“The title is symbolic of the hierarchy of life,” Austin explained. “One-half is representative of a dog’s life, one a human, and two God.”
The poem is about a neighbor’s dog who was killed by a car. Austin had left the gate open and the dog got out.
“Writing the poem was a way to learn from the experience,” Austin said. “But it didn’t help alleviate the guilt. Not really.”
Here is an excerpt:
“We are
Dogs to the universe. Ready to be run over by a car.
God bless you, Liam. I hope you find it better there.
After that, we went up to the mountain
and scattered his ashes in the snow.
Guilt eroded onto my head like a river.
And on a walk, I pondered dogs’ lives,
and what they might live for, if anything.”
Austin is happy about getting his poems published
Austin got his poems published because of his father heard a story on National Public Radio about a Las Vegas gallery owner, so he told her about Austin. Later, Austin read some of his poetry at her house, where he met the Quill & Parchment contact.
“Getting my work out there into the world so strangers could read it is astounding. It was a major goal for me,” Austin added.
His other poem, “Rise of the Jellyfish,” about the WWII parachutes that hang over the Holmes Ampitheater on campus, will appear in the June issue of Quill & Parchment.
“That poem is a lot lighter,” Austin said, of the poem that he read at Coffee House, an open mic night on campus.
Here is an excerpt:
“What would it be like to live in a jellyfish
city, nebulous blobs suspended in water,
unrestricted by the Law of Gravity? Can you see it
gentle tendrils moving, slipping, finger-licking.
What kinds of secrets would jellyfish share?
The fall of man would most certainly bring about
the rise of the jellyfish.”
Copyright article & photo (but not poems) Idyllwild Me. All rights reserved.
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