This week’s featured poem is entitled Mud, and it is written by Alice Teeter. This poem comes courtesy of Poetry Daily, which is a great website if you’re looking for some poetry to add to your day. I encourage you to check out the site and read some poetry just for the hell of it.
According to Poetry Daily, Alice Teeter “is Lecturer in Poetry at Emory University. Her chapbooks include 20 Class A (Morningstar Media, 1975) and String Theory, winner of the 2008 Charles B. Dickson Chapbook Contest. Her book When It Happens To You was published in 2009 by Star Cloud Press. She has led “Improvetry” poetry improvisation groups and is a founder of the String Theory Cohort poetry and dance group.”
Mud, by Alice Teeter
She builds a man from the mud As far as the horizon
in all directions there is only clay cracked as if a note
deep under the earth had sounded leaving large plates
of mud separated by clefts a deeper redShe has taken her hands and dug deep
where it is still wet and fluid She shapes the man
curls his muscles the softest mud on his torso
the hardest applied to his feet and handsShe is tired covered in mud herself all red
she looks just like him She finishes his head
with hard clay stops steps back to rest gazes
at his features admires his beauty SighsQuickly she takes her thumbs and scoops the mud
away from his eyes They open wide the whites
bright against the wet oxblood of his face
He stares at her focused and alert
His eyes cut fear into her heart
I hope you enjoyed this week’s featured poem. For more of these, check the blog’s archives.
– Jet Fuel Blog Editor, Mary Egan
