On Tuesday, April 14th at 7:30 pm Isabella Martinez and Jack Collom will be at the Boulder Bookstore sharing poems from their new book, Petals of Poetry. They will share their  poems the Laughing Goat on May 11 at 8:00 pm. Petals for Poetry is a variety pack of poems by Boulder High School student and her mentor, an older well published author, Jack Collom. Some of the poems are collaborations, and some are individually composed. The eclectic mix is both serious and entertaining.

This book honors Jack Collom’s contribution to literature and introduces a fresh new writer.

For more information contact Roman Martinez@[email protected] or (303) 547-8226.

I COME FROM

I come from joyous giggles
and wide lips smiling
from dance classes and the constant
struggle to memorize and perfect
what’s coming next.
I am the carrot stems, poking through
the garden dirt full of life and heat.

I am the student who loves to
write but can’t process math.
I am from the land of mountains
and color, full of runners and
bikers. I’m from the cracking wooden swing
draped with pink blossoms and dull
fallen leaves.

I am crunchy yet
sweet crumbs that lay and
spread like blankets over
the moist cake.
I am ME.

by Isabella

~

hot DAM

Van Gogh, de-centered balance, surfaces wet,

Becomes himself; Ecology of Off;
He studies color, then he weaves a net
Of various light —and lack of light—don’t scoff

At Vincent, student of every thing. One…
After another. And-then he rubs them together,
Denies the orthodox, except for sun—
Shine, WHICH waxes heterodox in (real) weather.

Exactitude and looseness raise their rhythm-
Child, within the squares but out of the box;
Forever mates with instant; rhyming with them
A quick eternal creature (head of fox,

Body of paint); before all stillness can be stolen,
The Dutchman “ends” his clause v i a semicolon!

by Jack

~

LETTER TO A FRIEND

in the
garden

Jenny’s reading
philosophy? to my right

that dear
apple tree, with
small green apples
over me,
chickadee
singing in Susie’s Next-door’s
yard

straight ahead
miles away
Green Mountain
bedecked with flatiron rocks
crows “singing”
across the alley

tall mullein stalks
house finch song
wondrous blue & half-hidden pink
flowers
close by
and the

whole garden then
sprinkled with sunlight

goldfinch whistle

purple loomings
intricate
stillness
airplane motor fades away

robinsong

strange bare twigs
rosy between the blue and green

D elicate variations
E merge, such as
A crossingfest of phone lines and clothespins
R esting in their places

C ome see me, us, some
O therwise ordinary day; we’ll
L augh, escape the heat and make scrambled
E ggs together.

by Jack

~

An Alphabet Poem

A ll of us can’t fit in this ball of wax,” Gwendolyn
B arked. “Not even one of us could fit our hand inside!
How silly you are,”
C arolina exclaimed. “Bring me a quart of water while
you’re up.
D arting to the kitchen Gwendolyn did not fill up a glass of
water but a glass of
E rosion juice. (“She won’t know the difference, hee hee,”
she snickered)
F ast like lightning, she bolted back to her sister and
G ot her going too. So everybody was busy but nothing
was happening about the erosion-juice that quietly
slept in Carolina’s blue water bottle
“I love the next line, the J line, whatever it’s going to be,”
she said.
“J uice!” She yelled. Although it wasn’t really juice!
“K iss it,” sai Carolina’s uncle Red who’d just come in the
door.
L ingering slowly she took a deep breath of the mixture
and gulped deeply
“M mmm yum!” Even the dog was interested
N ot expecting she liked the erosion-juice
“O h hell,” said Gwendolyn. What’s part two going to be
about?
“P atient much?” Carolina exclaimed, “You will have to
wait!” Then suddenly,
Q uickly, in fact 4,000 mph, part two went roaring down the
highway
R an to the door, and…
S niffed the weather. “Hmm, lots of contradictions will be
raining down.”
T he sky was truly gloomy clouds, like dishtowels filled the
sky
U nderneath was the earth, waiting patiently for whatever
V oyage was to come and the new and fresh . . .
“W ait a minute!” cried Gwendolyn. “We haven’t played the
X ylophone yet! That’s my favorite!”
“Y ou mean life is a big Plinkety-plunk?” No! It’s a
Z OO!

by Jack and Isabella

Relephant:

18 Truths About Living in Boulder.

Author: Jack Collom & Isabella Martinez

Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photos: Author’s Own

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