Mormon Poets / Poetries / Poetics

Posts Tagged: deja earley

If the poets are happy…

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1 year ago    |   Tags: fireinthepasture Darlene Young deja earley review MormonLit poetry   |   Notes: 8

I have the greatest respect for each of the poets I invited to be a part of Fire in the Pasture. So when I hear they’re happy with the book, I get a little giddy. Because, hey, if the poets (brooding lot that we are) are happy, well, something must be very right with the world.

Here’s what two contributors, Darlene and Deja, have said recently:

Darlene: Fire in the Pasture is “huge, and amazing, and I’m sure it will be used as a textbook for [Mormon literature] classes in the future (besides being a fantastic addition to any personal library—right?).”

Right.

Deja: Fire in the Pasture is “beautiful. I don’t mean that my poems are beautiful, I mean the book itself, as an object, is gorgeous. If you’re so inclined to see what’s going on in contemporary Mormon poetry (and how could you not be?! ;), I recommend this book.”

Huge. Amazing. Beautiful. Gorgeous. All synonymous with poetry.

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1 year ago    |   Tags: fireinthepasture FitP Poet Highlight Poet Highlight poetry American Poetry Deja Earley performance MormonLit  

"At the school carnival,
I tow a plunger.
Its rubber bowl bouncing
off the asphalt."

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FitP Poet Highlight 14/82: Deja Earley, “Housewife for Halloween”

Deja has published a number of poems on the web (see here, here, and here for starters). But I thought “Housewife for Halloween” was an appropriate choice for the day. I like it 1) for its brevity—it’s only four lines long—and 2) because it made me laugh, especially as I consider the whole notion of parenthood as playing a role, even if that role may be an unconventional one. This un-convention is suggested here by the plunger the poet tows through this “school carnival”—I mean, a plunger’s not something I usually associate with housewifery, but I guess it fits: a wife can’t always wait for her husband or the plumber to plunge that clogged drain. This wife, I suppose, is independent, a do-it-yourselfer, and, I’m sure, low maintenance to boot.

What more could a husband ask for?

Deja’s got two poems on the page I’ve linked to; but I wanted to highlight “Housewife” because, well, poetry just needs to be really short and fun sometimes.