Poetry Reading – Felling

What the judges said:
This poem is an enviable example of word as subject, displaying phonetic craft which utilizes onomatopoeia internal rhyme and assonance. The sounds in this poem are the strongest of the poetry competition, enhancing the author's idea, and moving the reader through the poem at a specific pace. Beginning with the title, "Felling" is a very poetic, language-centered, sensual journey.

What I said:
Felling
I never thought of sex before
as a sexy word. The hacking
hatchet chopping
trunks cracking splinters
splitting rings of life apart;
factories snatching branches,
whittling forests into firewood.

I hear the milling lyric making love
mixing hum and la from a pull saw
bending, begging—catching;
music wobbles, giggles when a handle slips
then grips again, mapping latitude
lines through layers of life, composing
honeycomb cradles in the moonlight.

Emily Fairchild 4/18/13

— at Utah Valley University.