Just made the sestina packet for my Poetic Forms class. Poems by John Ashbery, Elizabeth Bishop, Evie Shockley, Cathy Park Hong. Halloween's got me thinking about Bishop's "Invitation to Miss Marianne Moore" -- "please come flying" -- celebration of non-normative women. Witchy witchy, which she isn't witchy after all? My favorite stanza:

"Come with the pointed toe of each black shoe
trailing a sapphire highlight,
with a black capeful of butterfly wings and bon-mots,
with heaven knows how many angels all riding
on the broad black brim of your hat,
please come flying."



[photo: Witch History Museum in Salem]

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Also, I'm reading poems next Saturday (11/5) in San Diego with the amazing Stephanie Balzer.