Viewless Wings Poetry Podcast

James Morehead (Poet Laureate - Dublin, California) recites his poem "Falling" from his first book "Canvas".

Falling

With a damp chill and shortening days,

I drive past Dorset at autumn’s peak.

High above, white clouds stroll puffed in promenade,

held delicate together by slender contrails,

and morning sun softly warms a crisp early breeze,

sending lake shimmered ripples—a cumulus mirror.

I step into a forest, maples rooted firm in Canadian shield,

feet meandering in search of a tickling leaf crunch.

All the while, drinking air soaked yellow, orange, red, brown.

In time, the breeze grows unsettled around,

a bluster that rips determined leaves from their perches,

scattering like startled butterflies, a colorful stochastic flutter.

I walk alone, thankful, threatening nimbus halts its advance,

and slip through the leaves, past seasons, years, decades—

transported from Canada to a New England vista,

passing through time and space into a 70s country wagon,

where the roads, ever curving, slide me across the trunk floor

as we slip on to gravel in search of a fall fair.

Touching a pumpkin’s husk hurls me again into space,

to Boston’s Freedom Trail outside Faneuil’s Hall,

with autumn colors draping the worn graves of patriots,

and the tickling crunch unchanged despite decades passing.

Through Boston Common, King’s Chapel, down ever-twisting walkways

where artists balance canvases and sketch with fingerless gloves.

In a moment, falling again through the city to rural Vermont,

winding through postcard towns and white painted gazebos,

nestled still in rust-draped Appalachians.

I step into Waterbury, hugged warm in a peacoat,

strolling down uneven sidewalks past sleeping storefronts,

to stir and crunch leaves from their wind-structured stacks.

Finally falling, surrounded, the sweet scent of decay

burrowing deep into earth, past shadow-seeking light,

until mildew and gray give way to Newton’s morning,

sunshine bright, sparkling through orange-tinged edges.

Leaping out of the pile, a burst of oak and elm,

distant memories of youth when time had no meaning.

And now, each fall passing and cycle of leaves,

autumns behind me stacked higher than waiting ahead,

I cling to each breath of crisp scented breeze,

and try not to blink, looking out over the trees,

and listen to each crunch as I step through the leaves,

until I catch a fell maple to welcome me home.

Brennan DeFrisco is a poet, teaching artist, editor, voice actor, & ekphrastic artist from the San Francisco Bay Area. He’s been a National Poetry Slam finalist, a Pushcart Prize nominee, Grand Slam Champion of the Oakland Poetry Slam, & regional coordinator for California Poets in the Schools, Poetry Out Loud, & the San Francisco Arts Commission. He’s the author of A Heart With No Scars, published by Nomadic Press, & has served as poetry editor on the mastheads of Lunch Ticket, Caesura & Meow Meow Pow Pow. His work has been published in Red Wheelbarrow, Oracle Fine Arts Review, Drunk in a Midnight Choir, JMWW Journal, Words Dance, & elsewhere. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing with a focus in poetry from Antioch University Los Angeles.

The Viewless Wings Poetry Podcast October submitted poetry episodes features poems by five poets:

Loreena McKennitt, currently on a North America, Europe, and United Kingdom tour, is a multi-faceted Canadian artist known for her unique blend of pop, folk, and worldbeat music, often described as "eclectic Celtic." With over 14 million records sold worldwide, she has achieved gold and platinum status in 15 countries. McKennitt owns her record label, Quinlan Road, and has an extensive catalog that includes hits like "The Mummers' Dance." She has received numerous awards, including two Junos and a Grammy nomination. Not just a musician, she's also an advocate for intellectual property rights and a philanthropist with her own charitable organizations. From small-town roots to global stardom, she's a self-managed powerhouse in the music industry.

Carol Guess is the author of numerous books of poetry and prose, including Doll Studies: Forensics and Tinderbox Lawn. Forthcoming books include a short story collection, Sleep Tight Satellite (Tupelo Press), and a hybrid poetry collection, Infodemic (Black Lawrence Press). A frequent collaborator, she writes across genres and illuminates historically marginalized material. In 2014 she was awarded the Philolexian Award for Distinguished Literary Achievement by Columbia University. She is Professor of English at Western Washington University, where she teaches Queer Literature and Creative Writing.

Gabriel Dozal is from El Paso, Texas. He received his MFA in poetry from the University of Arizona. His work appears in Poetry magazine, Guernica, Bomb Magazine, The Iowa Review, The Brooklyn Rail, The Literary Review, Hunger Mountain, The Volta, Contra Viento, and more.

Natasha Tiniacos is a Venezuelan poet, literary translator, and scholar living and working in the United States after being granted political asylum. She holds an MFA in creative writing in Spanish from New York University and is currently pursuing a PhD at the CUNY Graduate Center, investigating Latinx and Latin American literature, sound, and art. She has published two books of poems in Spanish, Mujer a fuego lento (2006) and Histo­ria privada de un etcétera (2011).

The Viewless Wings Poetry Podcast September submitted poems episode features six wonderful contributions read by six poets. Different forms and themes are featured. The Viewless Wings Poetry Podcast explores the art of poetry through interviews with poets and artists including Safia Elhillo, A.E. Stallings, Dana Gioia, Yanyi, Olivia Gatwood, Lisa Marie Simmons and more.

Featured poets include:

This week's episode features a special excerpt from the Exploring San Francisco podcast by San Francisco Travel. Award-winning host and travel writer Aaron Millar welcomes Viewless Wings founder and City of Dublin Poet Laureate James Morehead to recite his poem "nine point five miles per hour", recorded while riding a cable car. James' poem was inspired by the San Francisco Cable Car Museum.

Hear the complete episode and follow Exploring San Francisco on your favorite podcast streaming service.

Viewless Wings Poetry Podcast host James Morehead recites his poem "sisters" (from "canvas") to welcome a summer hiatus. The podcast will return with more interviews and submitted poetry episodes in September. Have a wonderful summer!

Brandon Rushton is the author of The Air in the Air Behind It (Tupelo Press, 2022), selected by Bin Ramke for the Berkshire Prize. Born and raised in Michigan, his individual poems have received awards from Gulf Coast and Ninth Letter and appear widely in publications like The Southern Review, Denver Quarterly, Pleiades, Bennington Review, and Passages North. His essays appear in Alaska Quarterly Review, Terrain.org, the critical anthology, A Field Guide to the Poetry of Theodore Roethke, and have been listed as notable by Best American Essays. After earning his MFA from the University of South Carolina, he joined the writing faculty at the College of Charleston. Since the fall of 2020, he's served as a visiting professor of Writing at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan.