STIRRING
Founded in 1999, Stirring is one of the oldest continuously publishing journals on the internet.
Stirring is an electronic quarterly journal.
Founded in 1999, Stirring is one of the oldest continuously publishing journals on the internet.
Stirring is an electronic quarterly journal.
COURTNEY LEBLANC
Write a poem about the person who got away. Write in red pen, let the ink represent the blood pounding through your heart. Detail the backs of their hands, how they felt against your skin, how your body burned for them. Burn the poem. Watch the flames consume the paper. Inhale the smoke as you stand ready with the extinguisher – do not let it consume anything else, it has eaten enough of your heart.
Write a poem about the sunrise. Do not use the word palette or watercolor or sky or morning. Describe the impenetrable black before the pledge of color. Write about your thoughts in those moments of darkness, how our heart battles with your brain to decide if this version of life is enough. Reassure the reader that by the time the murky promise of day has been realized in the stinging bright sunshine that you are okay – you don’t want every poem to crush your reader.
Write a poem in the form of a diary entry. Confess your secrets – the man you kissed after too much wine, how he pushed you against the brick of the building and you wanted those stones permanently tattooed onto your back. List each place you fucked him – the beach, the backseat, the bathroom of the crowded party. Leave this poem on a bench at the bus stop, let a stranger read it and know your secret now runs free.
Write a poem asking forgiveness – for the lies you told, for the trespasses you committed, for your fickle heart. List them one to one hundred, use permanent marker, write in ALL CAPS. When this list is complete, bake it inside a loaf of bread, your mother’s recipe. Cut a piece while it’s still warm, feel the heat scorch your fingertips. Watch the butter melt, the bread turning golden. With each bite you swallow, forgive yourself.
Courtney LeBlanc is the author of the full length collections Exquisite Bloody, Beating Heart (Riot in Your Throat) and Beautiful & Full of Monsters (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press). She is also the founder and editor-in-chief of Riot in Your Throat, an independent poetry press. She loves nail polish, tattoos, and a soy latte each morning. Read her publications on her blog: www.wordperv.com. Follow her on twitter: @wordperv, and IG: @wordperv79.
