Category Archives: poetry

Fertility

Posted on April 29, 2016 by susanmsink@gmail.com

A new painting came to live with me yesterday. As Sophia said, time to get the winter painting out and get something green in the room. She walked it across the commons in the morning and we set it up on … Continue reading →

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The Big Party

Posted on April 19, 2016 by susanmsink@gmail.com

The morning I received the diagnosis, I asked about two events I had planned. One was a trip to Chicago April 13-17 to be a visiting poet at Joliet Junior College, where I used to teach, and to have a “book … Continue reading →

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Good Girls

Posted on April 12, 2016 by susanmsink@gmail.com

Remember the Billy Joel song “Only the Good Die Young?” I thought that song was a total scandal. How could he say what I somewhere deep thought was true– what scared me most? But it wasn’t there because of Catholicism. I … Continue reading →

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Living with the Painting

Posted on April 10, 2016 by susanmsink@gmail.com

And at night, a snowy painting. I set up my mister with essential oils on the same desk as the painting. It glows at night and illumines the painting. And there is my home. The detail of the painting is … Continue reading →

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Freeze and Thaw

Posted on March 28, 2016 by susanmsink@gmail.com

It’s maple syrup season here in Central Minnesota. The monks at Saint John’s Abbey have a very large operation, and it’s been a good year. The first year I lived here, I participated actively in the operation, tapping trees, harvesting … Continue reading →

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…and the Beautiful Cut Hair

Posted on March 23, 2016 by susanmsink@gmail.com

My mother sent me this photo and a packet of childhood photos. Wasn’t I a beautiful bald baby? I was bald for a long time. And now I will be bald again. I’m actually not that put out by it. … Continue reading →

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Beautiful uncut hair…

Posted on March 22, 2016 by susanmsink@gmail.com

  One of the poems that has been floating in and out of my head over the past few weeks is Walt Whitman’s part 6 of “Song of Myself,” the multipart poem at the center of his one and only … Continue reading →

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Life Will Break You

Posted on March 17, 2016 by susanmsink@gmail.com

This beautiful broadside is hanging in my bathroom. I see it several times a day. It was made by the artist Rachel Melis at the College of Saint Benedict letterpress studio for the Literary Arts Institute visiting writing series with … Continue reading →

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Crush

Posted on March 14, 2016 by susanmsink@gmail.com

I am one of the unfortunate masses who is addicted to a little game called Candy Crush Saga. I would like to describe this as just a harmless entertainment, but I fear it is a sign of a character flaw. … Continue reading →

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Resiliency

Posted on March 11, 2016 by susanmsink@gmail.com

Last night I caught just a bit of a Minnesota Public Television program with Kevin Kling. Kling, a Minnesota storyteller of great accent and great talent, was speaking to On Being host Krista Tippett about resiliency. Kling was born with physical disabilities, … Continue reading →

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