WESTPORT DOLOR<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Your quiet breaks me apart like whitecaps
\ncollapse before coursing a shore. The water
\nthat eddies you floats a shapeless gray
\naround this bay, over this day; ebbing
\ngrief in the horizon\u2019s haze. Here,
\nwhere your timber boom went bust,
\nnow you just rust craggy stumps
\nalong an emptied dock and austere pier.<\/p>\n
You hang an ash-splashed canvas for miles
\nat this beach. A comber cannot read
\nwhere stone cold sky meets gun metal sea,
\nas they bumble down your one dead,
\nbone-jumbled jetty finger anchored
\nby blanched boulders and uprooted trees.<\/p>\n
The rotund tourists straggle in and wag
\ntongues stuck full of green salt water
\ntaffy and old fashion donuts. Their throats
\nclose shut around pulpy oyster shooters
\nquaffed starboard off spitting bottomfish
\ncharters rented out on the cheap.<\/p>\n
The world ends here. Where longitude crosses itself
\nwith latitude to no absolution. Where waves genuflect
\nthen crumble rather than crash. The sand
\ndollars you\u2019ve strewn townside are cracked
\nto halves. Their lost flock of peace doves,
\nonce housed in a holy shell hollow, now worthless
\ndebris to those who divine the beachhead.<\/p>\n
Here your gulls swoon restless and hover
\nabove the sea\u2019s ennui. They dip and drone
\nmid-air: Scavengers perpetually hung
\nthere\u2014aimless and leering. They swing
\nback and forth, steering ghost-shaped waves
\nin the grimy brine sky above your grave.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Winner of a Hedgebrook<\/a> writer-in-residence award in 2011, and awarded the 2010-2011 Poet Laureate of Tacoma <\/a>title, Tammy Robacker <\/a>promotes the art of poetry in the South Sound community by writing, teaching and guest speaking locally. In 2009, she was the recipient of a TAIP grant award and published her first book of poetry, The Vicissitudes.<\/a><\/em> In addition, she co-edited a Tacoma poetry anthology, with former Poet Laureate of Tacoma, Bill Kupinse, titled: In Tahoma’s Shadow: Poems from the City of Destiny.<\/em><\/a> Ms. Robacker studied Creative Writing and Poetry at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA and graduated with a B.A. degree. Now, actively involved in Washington State’s South Sound as a poet, a freelance writer, and a volunteer, Robacker also serves as secretary of the board for Puget Sound Poetry Connection.<\/a><\/p>\n Tammy’s poetry has appeared in Columbia Magazine, <\/a>Plazm, Floating Bridge Review: Pontoon, <\/a>Wild Goose Poetry Review, Word Salad, Pens on Fire,<\/em> and the Allegheny Review.<\/em> Ms. Robacker’s poetry manuscript, We Ate Our Mothers, Girls, <\/em>was selected as a finalist in the 2009 Floating Bridge Press chapbook contest i<\/a>n Seattle, WA. Tammy Robacker runs her own freelance writing company called, Pearle Publications. Her editorials have appeared in SHOWCASE Magazine, CITY ARTS Magazine,<\/em> and the Weekly Volcano. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WESTPORT DOLOR Your quiet breaks me apart like whitecaps collapse before coursing a shore. The water that eddies you floats a shapeless gray around this bay, over this day; ebbing grief in the horizon\u2019s haze. Here, where your timber … Continue reading