Presenting January Gill O'Neil

I was lucky enough to get to hear/meet poet January Gill O'Neil yesterday afternoon at Elliott Bay Books in Seattle. Her first full-length collection, Underlife, appeared from CavanKerry Press in 2009, and was a finalist for both the Foreward and Patterson Poetry Prizes. Underlife is filled with poems at times sumptuous, risky, funny, playful, sexy, food-ful, and wise. Here's one to whet your appetite:

Nothing Fancy

I am from hush puppies & barbecue

from chitlins & fatbacks

hog maws & hog jaws & grits & scrapple.

Outside stands a dogwood tree we have let

overgrow from laziness

& a driveway cracked

with blades of grass.

I am from Rosemary & Stanley,

the last model in the series.

Around our house honeysuckle blesses the air,

seasons the heat of summer into a main dish.'

I am a plum black garnish to the day.

Wafts of smoke from pots on the stove

steam the kitchen.

Salt & Pepper stand at attention

next to the potholders on the counter.

Dinner is ready--no time for parsley.