I met the delightfully vibrant Michelle this past summer when she was teaching the poetry section at the Tinker Mountain Writer's Workshop. Her work is raw, honest and provocative and it was a privilege to hear her reading it (poetry is best enjoyed live, don't you think? maybe with cocktails afterwards?). She's also at work on a memoir, Second Day Reported, which she's been teasing folks with on her wildly popular Michelle's Spell blog (she always has cocktail suggestions!). The Iowa Review will publish her essay The Ceiling Or The Floor, which she calls "the springboard" for Second Day Reported. Though it's amazing that the poor thing can work at all--She tells me she's still reeling from the end of the Sopranos!
Michelle's Spell is also her love letter to the city of Detroit. She's brought us a poem today, and some photos from Detroit.
Be sure to check out her books on her website.
Welcome, sweet Michelle!
[First published in Permafrost]
Make Yourself Small
God will come in later, of this I feel certain.
Let’s consider the nurse Richard Speck
didn’t kill, the one that he bound who still
managed to hide under a bed, only to find
all the others stabbed in the eyes and breasts.
You wanted details, right? Hide under
whatever you can find, make yourself small.
Everyone finds something horrible in time.
Best to close your eyes. Keep them closed.
This picture is at the Heidelburg Project, an outsider art project done by Tyree Guyton to educate people about the decay and inspire hope in inner-city Detroit.
Love Detroit -- taken in the Old Miami, a fixture of the Cass Corridor -- Vietnam Vet hangout, the name stands for Missing In Action In Michigan
Me at my former place of employ, Macomb Community College
my old bedroom -- not exactly a Detroit historic site, but :)
Thanks for visiting, Michelle!
Tomorrow: Erotic suspense writer Jennifer Talty!
[Remember--Everyone who comments is entered to win $100 Godiva Chocolatier and Harry & David giftbaskets, plus books from several Octoberguest! authors! Drawing held November 2nd.]
