Linette Marie Allen

Poetry

Linette Marie Allen is earning an MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts at the University of Baltimore. Recipient of a Betty Tarpley Turner Research and Travel Award for Poetry, she recently launched a poetry project in Accra, Ghana. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Pleiades, Notre Dame Review, Prairie Schooner, and elsewhere.

 

Old Testament on West Preston

There is a box of books, no Shelves & shelves of black Books that nobody ever touches. How that must feel— To never be Touched on the fly or Sniffed between the pages— Bent & smashed After a long autumn sigh Catching wind of Procida— That star resembling the night Blooming cereus. The Writer’s Chronicle is hotter To the touch, gets touched Out in the open, bursting Into bossy reds over pear glass Table— Coffee? Slick as pages of Roman Prosciutto, spread wild on God’s Greenest & highest hill Sides.

“ On the second floor of the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences, there is a small bookcase of books that nobody ever seems to touch. The titles, spanning a range of subjects and genres, are never swapped in the spirit of a true book nook. They simply sit there, untouched, week after week. This greatly intrigues me.

As an emerging Maryland poet and writer, I applaud the groundbreaking work of Barbara Westwood Diehl and her entire team at The Baltimore Review. I celebrate the opportunity to be featured in the Maryland Writers Special Issue and extend my friendship. Twice a month, I host a poetry & pear cocktail party in my home, which has evolved into a popular literary salon for select Baltimore-based poets and writers. Interested? Reach out to me on Twitter @thepagereader. ”

Listen: