Martina Reisz Newberry

GOOD WORDS

       For Larry Kramer

I like Commitment, the way it brings lips together,
warm and firm; and Something -- I like
Something very much for its expectancy;
Correspond because it’s fonder than communicate,

and Renegade because it’s fast.  Supplicant is a
good word, can’t really be spoken without a slight bow

of the head and a respectful countenance.
I love Renascence (emphasis on the 2nd

syllable) and Hurry, best whispered into an ear.
Alone is more dignified than “lonely.”  I’d rather
Create than build, Shout, than holler, wait, than stop.
Homely is a better, kinder word than ugly and

allows possibility of improvement in the
same way Perhaps gives more leeway than maybe.
Shadow is a lovely word -- it looks its best when written

in cursive.  In fact, Cursive is a pretty word,

imparts a certain posture that appeals to me. 
There are the obvious favorites: Sensual, Velvet,
Charismatic, Revelation.  They are what they say
they are.  They roll forward to meet the imagination.

Caramel is a fine word -- on the same level, I’d say,
with Pashima and Whirlwind.  What good words!  What active,
enterprising, delicious words!  Then this last:
Conclude.  
More final, I think, more legitimate, less obsessed
than finish, terminate, end, or close.

Date of Birth: February 20, 1944 Location: Los Angeles, California Occupation: MultiMedia Production Specialist at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona's MEDIAVISION Email: emailmartina@yahoo.com Website: http://www.csupomona.edu/~mbnewberry/ Publications: Amelia, Bellingham Review, Cape Rock, Connecticut Poetry Review, New Laurel Review, Southern Review of Poetry, Touchstone, Stirring, etc. Books: Lima Beans and City Chicken: Memories of the Open Hearth, a memoir of my father—published by E.P. Dutton and Co. in 1989; The Star Jasmine Club - An Adult Fable, a novel purchased by E.P. Dutton & Co. in 1991; Scheduled for publication in 2003: Running Like a Woman with her Hair on Fire, Valentine Press, Los Angeles, CA; An Apparent, Approachable Light Awards: Winner of i.e. magazine’s Editor’s Choice Poetry Chapbook Prize for 1998, Pushcart Nominee, awarded residencies at Yaddo, Djerassi and Anderson Center colonies for the arts

- July 2002 - Angel Meat The Birdbath If Death Was a Man Sometimes, A Bird Wearing Water she said, we are all looking for things... annotated versions of histories ... A Fairing to the Willow At the Chelsea Good Words A Good Job A Strange Thing Booze After Math Geology - Letita Trent's Favorite Six - God is a Woman Killing Cattle for Disease, Greeley 1998 Choice Escaping the terrible fish Pond Gathering