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My Poems on The Ravens Perch

February 7, 2025

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The Ravens Perch has published four of my poems this past week.  You can find the first of them, “The Plural of Albatross” at https://theravensperch.com/the-plural-of-albatross-by-ellen-roberts-young/

Then page forward to “Night Flight” an experiment at capturing the experience of not sleeping/sleeping on an overnight flight.

Next is “Absence” which evolved from a prompt at the Napa Writers Conference in 2023: many drafts before and after comments by our workshop leader, Ilya Kominsky and fellow students.

At the end of the set, but perhaps most meaningful to share, is “Cry for the Earth””

            Old earth,
your home, is creaking.
Can you hear how much
too fast the hidden heart is
beating?

Find the rest of this one here.

Thanks to Ravens Perch for accepting these efforts.  Each poem has a comments block below it.  They like to get responses, so oblige if you can.

Odd Questions—Or Am I Just Out of Date?

November 2, 2024

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I believe poems have to stand or fall on their own merits.  Describing their origin can certainly add interest, but if a poem can’t be understood on its own, it probably isn’t speaking clearly enough.  I have been accustomed to sending out poems into the world on their own.  I’ve had two recent experiences that suggest this is not how others do things.

The first case concerns my poem “In the Service of Beauty” published by Muse,  a journal of Riverside City College, Riverside, CA.  The poem is in the voice of Artemisia Gentileschi, the painter.of 17th century Italy. I received an email from students asking thirteen questions about the work and my ideas.  When their professor told them that was too much to ask, the questions were reduced to three, questions about my thoughts on femininity, the influence of the women’s movement, how that had influenced my writing of the poem.

I wrote back that “femininity” is a construct of patriarchy and I don’t use the word any more.  I made general answers to the other questions, but what did this have to do with my poem, I wondered.

Not long after, I came up against a request to include with my submission a ‘Positionality Statement” “Please state how your identity as a writer serves the content of this piece, if it speaks to a specific component of your identity or intersectionality.”  I conclude that academic discourse is doing its best, once again, to destroy our language.  Of course I have a position, in relation to all the variables of class, race, gender, etc., etc.  But how does a person have positionality or intersectionality? – we are not abstractions.

I will not submit to a journal that wants me to work as seriously on a statement as I do on the poems.  The poem is what the reader makes of it.

Poem on line

November 21, 2023

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I came home from a wonderful trip to learn that a poem of mine is out on line.

The editors really like it – they don’t recommend reading aloud or rereading for every poem. I’m very pleased to have it published.  Here’s the link:

https://www.abandonedmine.org/crossing-texas-ellen-roberts-young

Do you think it’s a fair representation of Texas?

As for my wonderful trip, I hope to have pictures soon.

Three Poems on Line

August 11, 2021

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Three of my poems have just been published on The Ravens Perch: http://theravensperch.com.

They are short, easy to read on line, and intended to amuse, as well as to hint at the complexities of life.

“Coming Apart” is about glaciers and climate change. It is a reject from 3 Elements Review.

In “Who Will Interpret,” the messenger Mercury is found wanting in helping us understand the world. I return often to the question of the uses of astrology, and never come up with any answers.

“Brothers,” is my favorite. :As a mother of two sons, I found myself picturing desire and lethargy as two small children. They begin by quarreling in front of the television. And in the morning:

Any moment now, two urgent
children will jump on my bed,
demand I take sides, choose
between wanting and not wanting.

I hold out a hand to each.

Thanks to The Ravens Perch for putting these out in the world.

Poems on Line

October 12, 2016

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I have three poems in a brand new online journal, the Ibis Head Review

http://www.theibisheadreview.com/eryoung-sep2016.html

The three poems, “Burned” “Pulled” and “Congruent” are poems I want to include in a book manuscript which includes some very personal poems about my childhood, education and parenting.  (These three fit that later section.)

“Pulled” for example begins,

Tulips are intractable, the wedding florist
says, “They bend as they please,
don’t use them.”

The poem describes the years of a couple largely, not entirely, like my own marriage, and ends:

Fingerprints washed from door sills,
the wall reattached to the flooring, she
discovers they bend toward each other.

I have a second reason for liking this publication.  The masthead for Ibis Head Review uses the Egyptian hieroglyph of an ibis (not, fortunately, just his head).  I have a fondness for all things pertaining to ancient Egypt.

Have a look.

 

 

What’s There to Say About Coffee?

April 14, 2014

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Coffee0001Quite a lot, it turns out. Kind of a Hurricane Press has just come out with a 200 page anthology on the subject. 86 writers, plus the editors, are represented. Coffee has a lot to do with daily life and relationships, and there are many ways to talk about it.

A poem of mine, “Coffee in the Cup” is included. My poem is about colors. Have you ever tried to name the color of coffee with skim milk?   I came up with “French beige,” a new term for me this past year, or “taupe.” But is either quite right? It’s a very muted, dull color, distinctly different from coffee with cream.

The anthology, titled Something’s Brewing, is available from Amazon for $8.50, which is a good price for a 200 page book. Kind of a Hurricane Press has anthologies planned to come out about every two months. Submissions for the theme “Candy” are due May 31, for “Amusement Parks” July 31. and there are more to come. Check out: http://www.kindofahurricanepress.com/ for more on submissions or about the coffee anthology.