We All "Knead"

Knead

Love hate they say as if we are baking Sylvia bread,
head in an oven to watch the yeast rise.
Witness the moment the skin begins to brown,

when the odor wafts upon the window draft
like a ghost walking about room to room.
We look but can not see,

smell but do not inhale because we know inside
hate festers like pan drippings on the heating element;
you can not touch without getting burned.

After all, one who hates you perfectly,
moils without end to slice the lines that define you,
might be the one who can accept

everything you are made of,
the hard crust, the delicate insides,
and the crumbs that linger longer.



first published in Clockwise Cat Jan 2009

Latest Poetry Happenings

It's been a little slow on the poetry front mostly because I was putting a lot of time into getting my Mice Verses Man book ms and the galley perfected with the publisher so I wasn't submitting a whole lot during that time plus I have a few submissions that have been out for a couple months.

Anyway, I did hear back with a poem acceptance from a new lit mag called fourpaperletters for their January 2010 issue. Many thanks to the editor Laura Issacman. Looking forward to being a part of your magazine!

I also heard from editor Lori A. May from The Ambassador Poetry Project. A fairly new literary magazine based near the Detroit metro area named after the Ambassador Bridge. She accepted two of my poems for their March 2010 Spring issue. Thank you Lori! I hope to meet you some day too at a reading or whatever.

Since my last update, I also received two sets of rejections.

The publisher of my forthcoming book, Robin Stratton, shared one of the review excerps meant for the back cover of Mice Verses Man with me today. It's is from Steve Meador who has three fine poetry books out, all of which I own by the way, and also is the editor of the literary mag Hanging Moss Journal.

Here's his review. thanks Steve!

“R Jay Slais braids nature with humor and face-slapping reality that allows the reader to feel like a longtime friend. He is adept with language, structure and planting seeds of emotion, and one cannot help but feel lifted by 'January and all its newness is coming.'”
Steve Meador - author of Throwing Percy from the Cherry Tree

Winter is setting in here in Michigan. No snow here yet, but brrrrrrrr it is cold.

Smiles!

Happy first Birthday Chloe

She's one today. We got her at eight weeks old back in February, a tiny little fluffball. Now she's a huge fluffball, 13 pounds worth of lover kitty. Sometimes she thinks she's a dog though, she has this little bark she does and she loves playing fetch with her little soccer ball. Happy birthday Chloe!