Rust Fish

My lovely and amazing friend, Maya Jewell Zeller, is officially a published author! I mean, she's been publishing in literary magazines and anthologies for quite some time, but now she's able to add a book of poetry to her list of achievements. The long awaited Rust Fish arrived yesterday.


You know how cool Maya is, right?

I mean, she's the one who recently discovered the frozen sap on the T.J. Meenach trail along the Spokane River. She's also a finder of presidents, a picker of berries, an eater of coconut cupcakes, a maker of muffins, a chopper of downed trees,  a receiver of felted foxes, and a sender of kickass postcards.  And that's just her life inside this blog. She has a whole other life outside--in the real world--where she's a mother and a teacher, a wife and a runner, and a terrific poet.

from Rust Fish
First Friday of Spring

This evening I cut your hair
in the kitchen while we listen
to Bob Seger tell us
it's funny how the night moves.
I could sing along, add
a bar or two about the way dark
brings its heavy water
against my bones like lake
to driftwood. Today we walked
a rim of indigo
and counted the subalpine buttercup,
the first stars of Idaho blue-eyed grass.
My hands slide through the light
brown of your now-short hair,
finding your skin
like fingers sinking to reach
new sand. This
is my favorite part, your breath damp
through my shirt,
your eyes an open sea
calling me in.

Yup, she's a keeper! And if you're in Spokane on 7 April, I know of a certain book launch you should attend...