Poems by Alan Michael Parker
American Poets Continuum Series
Both wild and calm, boisterous and quiet, the poems in Elephants & Butterflies employ Alan Michael Parker's trademark surprise, song, and startling metaphor while allowing the ideas to simmer just below the surface of the lyric. These poems accomplish the difficult task of being accessible while still pursuing complex philosophical and personal knowledge.
Elephants & Butterflies includes, among other poems, a series of seven “free verse sonnets,” entitled “A Peal of Sonnets,” each named for a day of the week. As a series, the poems act as a “peal”: like the bells rung in cathedrals, in the “ringing of the changes,” the seven poems interrelate, their shared musical sonorities dynamic.
Elsewhere in Elephants & Butterflies, Alan Michael Parker tests formal and free verse conventions, utilizing prose poem, elegy, ode, and rhyme. Combining the familiarity of formal elements with Alan Michael Parker's unique voice and vision, Elephants & Butterflies will surprise and gratify readers with each turn.
What Was He Saying and to Whom
What was he saying and to whom?
With a silver thermos he left the building;
He paused in the courtyard and turned.
What was he saying and to whom?
The building at dawn not yet a building
Paused the way all buildings do.
What was he saying and to whom?
Time doesn't stop; time doesn't wait;
Time has never moved.
What was he saying and to whom?
If the dog had been sleeping
She would not have awakened,
So small was the moment to lose.
What was he saying and to whom?
What was he saying and to whom?
The courtyard at dawn was the same
As the sky, the sky swept clean by the moon.
What was he saying and to whom?
Good morning, good-bye, I love you, I'll try.
What was he saying and to whom?
Available editions:
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Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-934414-05-7
Price: $16.00
Publishing Date: June 2008
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New
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BOA Editions, Ltd. would like to thank the following generous Publishing Partners for their support of Elephants & Butterflies:
Anonymous (2)
Kurt Brown & Laure-Anne Bosselaar
Alan & Nancy Cameros
Gwen & Gary Conners
Wyn Cooper & Shawna Parker
Susan DeWitt Davie
Peter & Sue Durant
Pete & Bev French
Judy & Dane Gordon
Kip & Debby Hale
Peter & Robin Hursh
Willy & Bob Hursh
X. J. & Dorothy M. Kennedy
Jack & Gail Langerak
Rosemary & Lewis Lloyd
Donna M. Marbach
Boo Poulin
Steven O. Russell & Phyllis Rifkin-Russell
Vicki & Richard Schwartz
Thomas R. Ward
Patricia D. Ward-Baker
Pat & Mike Wilder
Glenn & Helen William
