Ten Most Read Poets 2023 at North of Oxford as of National Poetry Month

Three Poems by T. J. Masluk

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2023/01/07/three-poems-by-t-j-masluk/

Three Poems by Akshaya Pawaskar

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2023/02/06/three-poems-by-akshaya-pawaskar/

Calder at the Top of the Stairs by John Timpane

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2023/02/06/calder-at-the-top-of-the-stairs-by-john-timpane/

Our Children Are in the Fields Today by Cydney Brown

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2023/02/06/our-children-are-in-the-fields-today-by-cydney-brown/

Two Poems by Charles Carr

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2023/03/06/two-poems-by-charles-carr/

Two Poems by Cameron Morse

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2023/01/07/two-poems-by-cameron-morse/

Two Poems by Evan Anders

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2023/02/06/two-poems-by-evan-anders-2/

September in the Meadow by Robert Milby

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2023/01/07/september-in-the-meadow-by-robert-milby/

Purple Flowering Grief by Brian Builta

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2023/01/07/purple-flowering-grief-by-brian-builta/

Hotel Krupa Lounge by Mark J. Mitchell

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2023/03/06/hotel-krupa-lounge-by-mark-j-mitchell/

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Purple Flowering Grief by Brian Builta

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Purple Flowering Grief 

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We are so sad to hear about your loss,

the way it reminds us of the salt in the pie

and also because it’s Friday. Your husband

was a good man despite his dark pit.

That tranquilizer dart to the hindquarters,

cherished memories electrocuted

like Thomas Merton turning on a fan to dry off.

So many damp suicides to wade through.

How did we get here?

Thinking of you, your many mousetraps,

the derelict way you stare out the window

at all the sagging structures you used to know.

A glitch in the Godhead, love filched from clean hands,

the sprinklers ch-ch-ch all night

in the cricket sizzle as get well wishes

whirl in the wind. Your heart has sung

so many arias, so much music

wafting over mussels and candlelight

as the drawn back nature of the waiter’s hair

makes you want to draw back your defenses,

welcome the pain like a party favor,

a parting gift for so many bullseyes.

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Brian Builta lives in Arlington, Texas, and works at Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth. His work has been recently published or is forthcoming in Jabberwock Review, Juke Joint Magazine, South Florida Poetry Journal, New Ohio Review and TriQuarterly.

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