| Poetic Matrix Press announces the release of |
The Lost Pilgrimage Poems
A book of Poetry by Joseph D. Milosch
front and back photography by Brandon Cesmat
A book of Poetry by Joseph D. Milosch
front and back photography by Brandon Cesmat
95 pages, price $15.00
ISBN 0-9714003-8-5
ISBN 0-9714003-8-5
New Title Ad in Poets & Writers Magazine,
September/October 2006 Issue
September/October 2006 Issue
The poems of The Lost Pilgrimage are by a man who notices
what happens. How rare that kind of listening is. Whether writing
about his father, the war in Vietnam, his wife, childhood, work,
fishing, faith, illness, silence, or anything else, Joe Milosch
hammers dross away and leaves nothing extra. What’s left is a
hard-won gift and blessing for the reader willing to open this
book, enter these poems and join the journey.
John Fox, CPT author of Poetic Medicine:
The Healing Art of Poem-making
what happens. How rare that kind of listening is. Whether writing
about his father, the war in Vietnam, his wife, childhood, work,
fishing, faith, illness, silence, or anything else, Joe Milosch
hammers dross away and leaves nothing extra. What’s left is a
hard-won gift and blessing for the reader willing to open this
book, enter these poems and join the journey.
John Fox, CPT author of Poetic Medicine:
The Healing Art of Poem-making
Joe Milosch graduated in 1995 with his MFA from San Diego State
University. He has published poetry and essays in various magazines
over the past ten years. His first chapbook, On the Wing, was published
by Barnes and Noble as a regional publication; his second chapbook
Father of Boards and Woodwinds, was published by the Inevitable Press
for the Launa Poets Series. He was a finalist in the Tennessee Middle
State Chapbook contest in 1996 for his chapbook, If I Could Imagine.
He won the 1997 Tennessee Middle State Chapbook contest with his
chapbook Among Men. In 1999 the Laguna Poets Series published his
fourth chapbook Now She Bends Away on Inevitable Press.
His poem “Among Men” was nominated for the Pushcart XXIII, and his
poem “Letters from Paul” was nominated for the Pushcart XXII.
He received an honorable mention for his poetry in The Chapel Jazz
Poetry Contest in the spring of 1999. He received an Excellence in
Literature award from Mira Costa College.
He teaches English Composition, Literature, and Creative Writing at
National University in San Diego.
University. He has published poetry and essays in various magazines
over the past ten years. His first chapbook, On the Wing, was published
by Barnes and Noble as a regional publication; his second chapbook
Father of Boards and Woodwinds, was published by the Inevitable Press
for the Launa Poets Series. He was a finalist in the Tennessee Middle
State Chapbook contest in 1996 for his chapbook, If I Could Imagine.
He won the 1997 Tennessee Middle State Chapbook contest with his
chapbook Among Men. In 1999 the Laguna Poets Series published his
fourth chapbook Now She Bends Away on Inevitable Press.
His poem “Among Men” was nominated for the Pushcart XXIII, and his
poem “Letters from Paul” was nominated for the Pushcart XXII.
He received an honorable mention for his poetry in The Chapel Jazz
Poetry Contest in the spring of 1999. He received an Excellence in
Literature award from Mira Costa College.
He teaches English Composition, Literature, and Creative Writing at
National University in San Diego.
Wood Bone Blood
for Steven Hawk
Dragging my palm along the table’s edge.
I slide my hand against the grain.
A sliver breaks beneath my skin.
“What have you learned from your mistake?”
Look at the damage you’ve done by
moving before you think,”
Dad points out a crack
wide as a sunfish bone.
“Never go against the grain,” he says,
taking a needle from the cloth
he’d stapled to his bench.
He strikes a match, begins to tell
about the buck he found three days dead
with its lower jaw shot off.
I want to shut my eyes and hide my fear,
but my eyes are held in the tender gaze
of his finger’s shadow.
I watch him heat the needles’ point, “Don’t jerk,”
he says before he pricks my hand.
The trick is trusting his touch.
Focused on my hand, he talks
of that starved deer,
its tongue touching the grass.
He says, “If you wound an animal,
track it, find it,
put it out of its misery.”
Finding the sliver’s tip, he pulls it.
I bleed. He says, “Lick it,
a little pain never hurts.”
Replacing his needle, he returns
to his work, his shadow
sliding across the table.
The scratch of sandpaper
bears witness to the even grain.
A bead of my blood grows.
for Steven Hawk
Dragging my palm along the table’s edge.
I slide my hand against the grain.
A sliver breaks beneath my skin.
“What have you learned from your mistake?”
Look at the damage you’ve done by
moving before you think,”
Dad points out a crack
wide as a sunfish bone.
“Never go against the grain,” he says,
taking a needle from the cloth
he’d stapled to his bench.
He strikes a match, begins to tell
about the buck he found three days dead
with its lower jaw shot off.
I want to shut my eyes and hide my fear,
but my eyes are held in the tender gaze
of his finger’s shadow.
I watch him heat the needles’ point, “Don’t jerk,”
he says before he pricks my hand.
The trick is trusting his touch.
Focused on my hand, he talks
of that starved deer,
its tongue touching the grass.
He says, “If you wound an animal,
track it, find it,
put it out of its misery.”
Finding the sliver’s tip, he pulls it.
I bleed. He says, “Lick it,
a little pain never hurts.”
Replacing his needle, he returns
to his work, his shadow
sliding across the table.
The scratch of sandpaper
bears witness to the even grain.
A bead of my blood grows.
Now She Will Bend Away
Timor mortis conturbat me (William Dunbar)*
Now she will bend away to lift
and shake her skirt. She holds it up
in morning light as if
she looks for holes
a moth might leave or threads
loosened by the movement of her hips.
As bees come to the bottle bush
her song springs in the summer air.
As buzzing breaks my thoughts of death,
she sings a whispered tune
and shakes her skirt again
as if it were an offering to
the solstice sun.
Removing window glaze, I pause
to watch her hanging clothes and rub
my thumb across my putty knife.
I work as if I have no fear
I’ll leave this world without my dreams,
which seem as rustic
as the clothes lines bent with weight.
I want to dream that when I die I will
recall her name. She might be bidding me
a mock farewell, standing alone among
the lemon shadows of the grass and trees.
I know that corn is cob and stalk,
and from the mountain’s melting ice
come flashing fish.
She bends away to lift and snap a pillow slip.
* Timor mortis conturbat me (The fear of death
confounds me)
Timor mortis conturbat me (William Dunbar)*
Now she will bend away to lift
and shake her skirt. She holds it up
in morning light as if
she looks for holes
a moth might leave or threads
loosened by the movement of her hips.
As bees come to the bottle bush
her song springs in the summer air.
As buzzing breaks my thoughts of death,
she sings a whispered tune
and shakes her skirt again
as if it were an offering to
the solstice sun.
Removing window glaze, I pause
to watch her hanging clothes and rub
my thumb across my putty knife.
I work as if I have no fear
I’ll leave this world without my dreams,
which seem as rustic
as the clothes lines bent with weight.
I want to dream that when I die I will
recall her name. She might be bidding me
a mock farewell, standing alone among
the lemon shadows of the grass and trees.
I know that corn is cob and stalk,
and from the mountain’s melting ice
come flashing fish.
She bends away to lift and snap a pillow slip.
* Timor mortis conturbat me (The fear of death
confounds me)
| If poets and lovers of poetry don't write, publish, read, and purchase poetry books then we will have no say in the quality of our contemporary culture and no excuse for the abuses of language, ideas, truth, beauty, and love in our cultural life. |
Poetic Matrix Press
Books
Chapbooks
Book Partners
Books
Chapbooks
Book Partners
Available on Amazon.com
Author, Reader & Producer's Book Club
Special offer!
Special offer!