#Alice Friman

[extollingtheeveryday]

Alice Friman // from "Art & Science" (2007)

[violettesiren]

A woman walks the trails at night wondering where the insects are, and why this forest, second in dampness to the great northwest, lets them out only in daylight.                         She hears them though, chirr-chirring in their leafy chains— slaves to the galley drum of summer straining for one last wave of heat.

Who doesn't know, given the stuff of dreams, what pitch black unleashes? How, when her flashlight dies, that sound will conspire with the rustling walls to close in, mocking her terror.                                               Even the path her shoes have memorized, the sweet meander back to the lamp and unfinished letter on the table, yields.

Like the newly blind, feeling along a long corridor, what stingy choice does she have, betrayed on such a cold and moonless night by the very ground beneath her feet,                           but to hold out her hands to the singing walls, the leg-rubbing, leaf- cutting walls, smelling of sinkhole and rot. Black-veined gloves reaching to touch her.

Siren Song for Late September by Alice Friman

[loudlylovingreview]

Alice Friman: The Apricot Tree

Kyparassia, Greece, 1977I’m walking the white-washed stepswinding the hills into town. The odor—wild thyme and spearmint. And halfway, look, an apricot tree ablaze with summer, heavywith fruit. There is a man, of course, green-eyed Alekos of the red truck, a yaya leadinga donkey, a girlchild, Roola, who hangs onmy neck, begging me to stay. If the journal’sink that tells my story has faded, I’ve…

[goreprofonde]

1. Cain It was a low stagger to his knees— the blow no linen could bind, no scab heal. Rolled up in the scroll of first narratives, that story was ours, our script, our blueprint for tragedy. But what was the cause, the reason for the hissy fit that initially lifted high the club: the straw that broke a brother’s back? The vagaries of a mother’s kiss or the slap of a crazed father doomed to live in the loss of high clover and an apple on every tree? Or both. Oh Wanderer—ancestor of us all who can’t go home again— since you walked this earth, one child has always carried the pain, chewing the inside of his cheek, biding his time. 2. Abel He was his mother’s favorite, his father’s despair and shame. Artless and simple, content to sleep outside with the sheep, curled nostril to nostril breathing in their oblivion. Unlike his brother, he never learned to toughen up. His only defense— the indestructible shield of his mother’s morning kiss tasting of Eden. Sweetface, she’d call him, running her thumb down his cheek. My apple dipped in honey. Sometimes while milking or plucking burrs out of wool, he’d raise his head, sure he heard the rush of angel wings. But Cain, who knew better, being older, frowned, saying it was only sparrows in the hayloft, flitting in and out, there where the sun gathers its light, shafting down like an accusing finger. He did not see the blow coming, the looming shadow raised above him. But Christ—who wasn’t born yet—watched from the back of God’s eye where he lived and saw through the little black hole this wide-eyed dumbling, a rosy boy dearer than the lamb he cradled to his chest. A lamb himself, a mother’s darling. The pulse beating in his neck, throbbing for the sacrifice.

- Alice Friman, First Blood.

[magnoliaison]

— Alice Friman, 'Art & Science'.

[allyourprettywords]

“Vinculum,” Alice Friman

          For Richard

Do not look at me again like that: between us is too stripped down to the bare wire of what we were.

The look, umbilical—that cord I thought discarded in some hospital bin fifty years ago come November.

How strange to find it once more between us, still beating and so palpable we could

cross over and enter into each other again, seeing our old selves through new, first eyes.

Plucked from a drumroll of autumns, that one was ours—autumn of my twenty-third year, autumn

of your final fattening, taking up all the room, worrying the thinning walls. The rope that seethed

from me to you and back again—our two- way street—and you, little fish, hanging on

past your lease in a time of narrowing dark, which you can’t possibly remember, but do.

And it comes to me: that look must be what love is, which is why we’ll not speak of it nor hunt it down

in each other’s eyes again, for you’re too worldly to admit, without wincing, what happened happened.

And I, too conscious of my failed attempts to fire into language what’s beyond words, could not

bear it. Which leaves me holding the bag once more of foolish thoughts. I know, I know, the universe

has neither edge nor center nor crown, but I want to think that past Andromeda and out beyond

a million swirling disks of unnamed stars, that cord we knew, that ghost of an eye-beam floating between us,

arcs in space, lit up like the George Washington Bridge pulsing with traffic, even after both stanchions are gone.

[poem-today]

A Favourite Alice Friman Poem

Mrs. Beasley’s Supper

“Woman Sees Jesus in Microwave Oven” —supermarket tabloid

She never considered herself worthy. But there He was— no bigger than a dashboard doll riding the revolving plate. Redeemer. Pin of the pinwheel. The groaning axis of this world lit up and acquiescent as the potato He sat on— all eyes shooting out His love.

Fixed to His purpose under last week’s gravy- spattering of stars, He spun in slow motion, weeping out her guilt, unknotting then knotting the long thread of her shame into the hair shirt of His Passion.

She crumpled at the knee.

What did she care of wattage or rebate from Sears? She pressed both hands to the glass. He pressed His to His heart the way He must have in the womb, lighting the dark squeeze of infinite space. Homunculus. Bullion. Fishhook of God zapped in the humming electrons of the two million years it took to make Him. And the eighty years of pink rollers and patience it took to bring Him home.

Born blind and spun dizzy, we stumble into empty space, clutching the paper tail of the donkey, groping for connection, then hoot at where the others end up— dangled from a lampshade or out the door. Another headline for laughs at the checkout. Another ballerina twirling on a jewel box, one more joke, one more rubber chicken from God.

That night—lipsticked and all fluttery—Mrs. Beasley put on her best blue dress, popped a paper daisy in a vase, then fished out the bottle of Muscatel to savor a sip with her chop and baked potato. Who’s not blessed?

Alice Friman

[cacchieressa]

Weighing In        What makes these corpses so damn heavy?                        —Dostoevsky

Even the great Russian   wondered what makes dead bodies so leaden it takes six musclemen to heft one box.You'd think life having left would make flesh less dense, the way a November leaf   floats, skips and scrapes along a cracked sidewalk, weightless without its juice.

Of course there's the custom of adding weight. A coin placed on the dead one's tongue for fare   across the Acheron or two gold pieces on eyelids to ensure sight in the underworld. Consider Tut, the boy king, whose tomb groaned with groceries, games, a golden hippopotamus, and a favorite chair, plus four Canopic jars holding the royal innards. Now, that's heavy.

Not taking chances and wanting him prepared, I pressed a coin in my father's hand for carfare. It must have been a 1935 nickel, a Buffalo nickel, making his box so heavy. A hoof-kicking, two-ton heave and shudder bellowing against the sides, there where I laid my head to say good-bye before the workmen engaged the winches and lowered him, inch by swaying inch, down.  

Mother came equipped with her own added weight. At the moment of death, she clenched her teeth, locked her jaws, and sucked in hard. No last words, no rattle. Just that hissing intake of breath, never to be released. What was it

she dared to grab from the air like a starving person a crust to keep forever? What spring? What blackberry summer? All I know is, in her high hour, she yanked the umbilical chain and took a piece of me with her.

--Alice Friman

[collinkelley]

Mother Mary Comes to Me: A Pop Culture Poetry Anthology is complete and at the printer with a publication date of Nov. 19, 2020. This international anthology features 63 poets hailing from America, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Spain, and Mexico. Karen Head and I are thrilled to have work from well-known poets like recent Pulitzer Prize winner Jericho Brown, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Denise Duhamel, Maureen Seaton, Ivy Alvarez, Alice Friman, Jeannine Hall Gailey, and Rick Campbell. And we're equally thrilled to introduce new voices and beautiful work by poets that you've likely never heard before. Pre-order at this link. 

[newlettersradio]

Now Streaming: The Augurs: Women of an Age, is a special public poetry reading, featuring a group of women poets, all over the age of 60, sharing their work and views on America. Eleanor Wilner, Alice Friman, Alicia Ostriker, Robin Becker, the late Michelle Boisseau, and others read from work that is both poignant and political. Listen to the full show on our PRX page at:  https://bit.ly/3bKE22q

[finishinglinepress]

Please join poet Alice Friman and me for our ZOOM poetry reading to celebrate both of our new books published in 2020, hosted by Georgia College on TUESDAY, APRIL 20, AT 7:00. Use the registration link below if you'd like to register to attend. It's free and open to the public, and I'd love to see you there! Registration Link: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/5b0d67c8dcc84ba097888a52de890b03

[lesfemmesfollesbooks]

more BARED contributor news & updates

Kierstin Bridger - New book: All Ember (Urban Farmhouse Press). Monthly Poetry Series: Open Bard in a Ridgway, CO

Jane Satterfield - New book: Apocalypse Mix, winner of 2016 Autumn House Poetry Prize, selected by David St. John. New anthology, co-edited with Laurie Kruk: Borderlands and Crossroads: Writing the Motherland (Demeter, 2016).

Virginia Chase Sutton - Work featured in Peacock Journal, Queen of Cups; new chapbook, Down River, forthcoming from Finishing Line Press.

Laura Shovan - Laura Shovan's novel in verse for children, THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY. was named an NCTE 2017 Notable Verse Novel and won the 2016 CYBILS award for poetry.

Jennifer Perrine - New poems will be coming out soon in Rattle, Cream City Review, and the Older Queer Voices online anthology.

Lisa Lewis - New poems appear or are forthcoming in Burnside Review, Cloudbank, Kestrel, No Tokens, Grist, Four Way Review, Florida Review, and WomenArtsQuarterly.

Alice Friman - Alice Friman’s latest collection is The View from Saturn, LSU 2014. Her previous collection, Vinculum, LSU 2011, won the 2012 Georgia Author of the Year Award in Poetry. She won a 2012 Pushcart Prize and is included in Best American Poetry 2009. Friman is Poet-in-Residence at Georgia College.

Kate Falvey - A new book of poems from David Robert Books: The Language of Little Girls

Barbara Schmitz - Reissue WHAT BOB SAYS Wayne State Press

[violettesiren]

Without the heft of love Or other shadows dragging at my heel

The magnolia spreads out her glory Robins dive-bomb the new lawns

Without meaning. For the story

There should be a deaf person Positioned in the corner

To spell out lovely with her hands Like these magnolia blossoms

Falling That above all

Nothing matters but that we make it up. We have to. There are such empty spaces

Between the spread wings The rush of air

The worm struggling in the tidy machinery.

Introduction to April by Alice Friman

[loudlylovingreview]

Alice Friman: Confidentially Pink

When I stepped down from the trainand he wasn’t thereI didn’t panic. I knew he’d comefor I had dressed in pink–a morning bud. An invitation.When I was a child, Grandma sent me home with armloads of pinks. Peonies–blowsy blossoms to bury a face in. Buds, hard as knuckles and sticky with juice, aching to open. Sweetness she’d call me, as if she sawin advance that day in the forest wherehe took…

[themodelmagazine]

New editorial issue has been published on TMM - The Model Magazine

New editorial issue has been published on http://themodelmagazine.com/2017/09/september-2017-issue-of-the-model-magazine-available-now-to-buy-online-in-print-and-digital-editions/

September 2017 Issue of The Model Magazine - Available now to buy online, in Print and Digital editions

The Model Magazine September 2017 issue is out. Available now to buy online – in print (magazine format or collectors hardback) and digital. This issue features beautiful models from around the world, namely :

Arancha Monje Arévalo Dárja Minenko @ Blow Models, Barcelona (ESP) Gabriel Sole @ Nicole Shelley Models, Miami FL (USA) Javier Rodiguez @ Blow Models, Barcelona and Madrid (ESP) Juliana Abrad @ Major Models, New York NY (USA) Katya Rudakova and Thijs Latten @ Uniko Model Management, Barcelona (ESP) Mishelle Marú Bariatti @ Uno Models, Madrid (ESP) Niels Weselmann @ Core Artist Management, Hamburg (DEU) Pille Alasi @ Wanted Agency, Madrid (ESP) Ruby @ NEXT Management, Miami FL (USA) Vlada @ Beyond Models, Milan (ITA)

With Cover Model : Meika Woollard @ GIANT Management, Melbourne (AUS)

Wearing exclusive items from designers, stores and brands, such as : AB.AD, adidas, Alex Max, Alice and Olivia, Andrés Sardá, Anne Klein, Antonio Miró, ASOS, August Silk, Bauhaus, Benjamín Friman, Bershka, Blackheart by Hot Topic,bomeé, Burton Menswear, Calvin Klein, Calzedonia, COS, Coup de théàtre, deeSerret, Demonia, Derek Lam, Diesel, Dirk Bikkembergs, Divided by H&M, DRYKORN, Elie Tahari, Esther Sancho, Etro, Express, Fancy Cocó, Forever 21, Francesco Maria Caravaggio, Funkyard Empire, Gianni Feraud, Givenchy, Guess, H&M, HUGO BOSS, James Nathaniel, JASONGRECH, Joe Carayol, Joop, Kiki Riki, Levis, Lindbergh, LOVELY, Mad in Mad, Maison Margiela, Maison Mayle, Mango, Marc Jacobs, Melissa Serone_, Miami International University of Art & Design, Michael Costello, Monki, Nicole Miller, Nike, OLYMP, PacSun, Puma, Ralph Lauren, Reclaimed Vintage, Rhythm Couture, River Island, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sam Edelman, Sayan, Selected Homme, Sentimental NY, Sfera, Steve Madden, Tarina Tarantino, The Damned by Jeffrey Campbell, Theory, Tiger of Sweden, Topman, Torras, Under Armour, Uniqlo, Urban Outfitters, U Rock Couture, Vanessa Bruno, Vans, Versace, VidaKush, Visori, VSB Barcelona Jewels, Weekday, Xevi Fernández, Yvan Andreu, Yves Saint Laurent, Zara, and Ze García

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS with : Anthony Flora @ RED Model Management, NYC (USA), and Chris Flora MODEL PROFILE with : PIRENGALLEGO

And this month’s news featuring : Tom Ford, Victoria’s Secret, Karlie Kloss, Christy Turlington Burns, Cindy Crawford, Doutzen Kroes, Hailey Baldwin, Sistine Stallone, Dylan Penn, Poppy Delevingne, Helena Christensen, and more…

Special thanks to photographers : Alejandro Perales Acedo, Christian Colman, Eric Pietrangolare, Filip Konikowski, Francesca Amanteri, Jennifer Harnack, Juan Pablo Castro, LAGARET, Linsi Taylor, Lucas Ferrier, Marsal Perez Galbany, Rick Day, Robert Altman, and Sorin Alexandru Dinu

And to their teams : Alejandro Merino Rodríguez, Alexandra Lincu Florescu, Amy Taip, Arianie Elcida Hernandez, ASJ Mahal, Beth Haywood, Bettina Gariglio, Bri Soffa, Casey Malady, Cecilia Pancrazi, Chad J. Cox, Cristina Rodriguez Martinez, Enrico Datu, Facundo Moroz, Francesco Maria Caravaggio, Jason Grech, Jeremy Turner, Jesse Genoa, Julia Seay, Kelly Basaraba, Lauren Mahal, Lola Perruquers, Maria Coca, Marta Gallardo Casu, Martina Wrobel, Max Darquea, Nic Broomhead, PhotoEclair, Sara Torregrosa, Theo Banzon, Verónica López, Xènia Soler, and Yana Zaytseva

    DIGITAL PDF PRODUCTS ARE DESIGNED FOR USE WITH DIGITAL DEVICES AND NOT FOR PRINTING. ALL PRICES EXCLUDE TAXES WHERE APPLICABLE SUBJECT TO YOUR LOCATION. ALL SALES ARE PERFORMED BY OUR ASSOCIATE DISTRIBUTORS, PEECHO B.V. AND GUMROAD INC.

  Instagrams : @alejandro_perales_acedo @alexdinuphoto @amy_taip @anthonymodelsnow @ari.works.model @asjmahal @bettinagariglio @beyondmodelsofficial @blowmodels @brisoffa @caravaggiofm @caseymalady_makeupartist @cecilia.pancrazi @chadjaycox @chrisjohnflora @coreartistmanagement @curlycurr @daryaminenko @eleganzanellamoda @enrico_datu @facundomoroz @francesca.amanteri.photography @funkyardempire @g.sole_ @giant_mgmt @heyyyyana @jasongrech @javieroddriguez @jenniferharnack @jeremyturner1000 @jessegenaomakeup @juanpablo.castro @juhabrad @katyrudakova @ladykurizzu @_lagaret_ @le_fil @lincu_make_up @linsitaylor@j3wce @lolaperruquers @lucasphotosny @majormodelsny @mars_fotografia @martagstylist @meikawoollard @merinos_makeup @mishellemaru @nevertwomuch @nextmodelsmia @nicoleshelleymodels @nielsweselmann @pepperbeth @photoeclair @pillealasi @red_models @rickdaynyc @ricpie @robertaltmanphotography @shearluck @theobot @thijslatten @unomodels @wantedagency @xeniasolerdomingo @xtiancolman @yhmlove

@ab.adprojects @adidas @aliceandolivia @andres_sarda @annekleinofficial @antoniomiro @asos @augustsilk @bauhausdeutschland @benjaminfriman @bershkacollection @bomee_studio @burton_menswear @calvinklein @calzedonia @caravaggiofm @cosstores @coupdetheatre17 @deeserret @demonia.shoes @dereklam @diesel @dirkbikkembergs @drykorn_forbeautifulpeople @elietahari @esthersancho_designer_ @etro @express @fancycocobcn @forever21 @funkyardempire @givenchy @guess @hm @hottopic @hugoboss @hugoboss @jamesnathaniel.nyc @jasongrech @jeffreycampbell @joecarayol @joop @levis @lindberghfashion @lovelydisgraze @madinmadshoes @maisonmargiela @maisonmayle @mango @marcjacobs @michaelcostello @monki @nicolemillernyc @nike @olympmen @pacsun @puma @ralphlauren @reclaimedvintageldn_men @rhythmcouturesawgrass @riverisland @saks @sam_edelman @sayan_official @selected_official @sentimentalny @sferaofficial @stevemadden @theory__ @tigerofswedenofficial @topman @torrasworld @underarmour @uniqlo @urbanoutfitters @urockcouture @vanessabrunoparis @vans @versace @vidakush @visori_official @vsbbarcelona @weekday_stores @xevifernandez @ysl @yvanandreu @yvanandreu @zara @zegarciaoficial @_mely.se_

[nyurootsandbranches-blog]

“Art & Science” 

Alice Friman

July/August 2007 Poetry Magazine