Joanne the Poet - The Poetry of Joanne M. Clarkson

Pulse—Voices From the Heart of Medicine

Pulse—Voices From the Heart of Medicine, featured my poem, “Teaching the Wound,” the Friday before Christmas. This is another journal offering free email subscriptions. Each Friday a new poem, story or non-fiction piece arrives! The journal archives everything so writings are always available by going to www.pulsevoices.org. The website offers links to other journals that publish writing focusing on health, by healthcare providers, patients, families and caregivers.

Saranac Review

“Birth of the North Wind” and “Old Growth” in Saranac Review, Tenth Anniversary Issue, 2014.

Perfume River Poetry Review

The Goodbye Skin. Perfume River Poetry Review, Issue 2: Ars Erotica, 2014. This is another beautiful, tasteful, sensitive collection produced by Vuong Quoc Vu, editor of Tourane Press. My poem is another ‘true’ one about a hospice patient’s wife. I didn’t see these people very many times. He had a horribly painful nerve disease that during the final stages made touch excruciating. After he passed, she asked for a few moments to lie beside him, something she had not been able to do for a long time. This journal is available at Tourane Press, P.O. Box 2192, Cupertino, CA 95015-2192 or visit www.touranepoetrypress.wordpress.com

Pudding Magazine

“Auditioning Sisters,” “Thoroughbred” and “Wearing the Clothes of the Dead” in Pudding Magazine, #62.

Rhino

The Mannequin’s Comb. Rhino: The Poetry Forum 2014.  Joanne’s poem, “The Mannequin’s Comb,” just appeared in the annual edition of this journal which is published in Evanston, Illinois.  It begins: “This morning I washed a dying woman’s hair.”  Joanne wrote it after one such encounter.  The poem includes references to her granddaughter, Bliss, and to her grandmother who, besides being a psychic, made women’s hats.  There is so much about being a woman that goes beyond vanity.  The poem is about the subtleties of how we appear to and for each other.

Gribble Press

Believing the Body. Gribble Press 2014. This beautifully designed chapbook contains 24 poems that reflect the author’s experience as a nurse with themes around courage in the face of suffering. These poems also attempt to answer the larger question of man’s place in the universe.

San Pedro River Review

San Pedro River Review, Spring 2014 “Work” issue. My poem is called “Farmer’s Child” and is about seeing the land my grandfather used to farm, that he lost during the Great Depression and mourned for all his life.

Naugatuck River Review

Naugatuck River Review: a journal of narrative poetry that sings. Winter 2014. My poem, “Last Chorus,” included here was a finalist for the annual contest. I wrote this poem for the Double Shot festival in Olympia last year. It is one of my “Jess poems” about my friend and mentor. He told me the story of when he was a young boy and was chosen to sing in Aida – and the prejudice he experienced at that time (about 1917) as a Jew.