Constant State of Leaping
This collection, Morton’s tenth, is a bold book of poetry delving into risks. It’s the moving forward; the constant discovery of new things. Using a combination of quotes, mythological images, and exquisite metaphors from nature, Morton delivers poems that describe the absolute urgency of giving one’s heart over to life, the burning drive to have faith in the world, the insistence that everything, in its own way, is holy. This book is unfettered joy.

Tending Fires        
I wanted to write a sonnet last night,
because that’s what lovers do, but the fire
needed tending, and all I could think of
were your shoulders, and that’s not romantic,
so I put on another log, and thought
about that hot summer day underneath
that oak, when our shoulders brushed, and I blushed
at the nearness of you, and how we made
love that night . . . still . . . that’s not what I wanted
to write . . . But it’s you;  you, my love.  You are
my night and my morning, and the hot coals
beneath these logs . . . hear them hiss and whisper
like cicadas—cicadas of the trees,
and the summer, and of all things that burn.
1119619387
Constant State of Leaping
This collection, Morton’s tenth, is a bold book of poetry delving into risks. It’s the moving forward; the constant discovery of new things. Using a combination of quotes, mythological images, and exquisite metaphors from nature, Morton delivers poems that describe the absolute urgency of giving one’s heart over to life, the burning drive to have faith in the world, the insistence that everything, in its own way, is holy. This book is unfettered joy.

Tending Fires        
I wanted to write a sonnet last night,
because that’s what lovers do, but the fire
needed tending, and all I could think of
were your shoulders, and that’s not romantic,
so I put on another log, and thought
about that hot summer day underneath
that oak, when our shoulders brushed, and I blushed
at the nearness of you, and how we made
love that night . . . still . . . that’s not what I wanted
to write . . . But it’s you;  you, my love.  You are
my night and my morning, and the hot coals
beneath these logs . . . hear them hiss and whisper
like cicadas—cicadas of the trees,
and the summer, and of all things that burn.
12.99 In Stock
Constant State of Leaping

Constant State of Leaping

by karla k. morton
Constant State of Leaping

Constant State of Leaping

by karla k. morton

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Overview

This collection, Morton’s tenth, is a bold book of poetry delving into risks. It’s the moving forward; the constant discovery of new things. Using a combination of quotes, mythological images, and exquisite metaphors from nature, Morton delivers poems that describe the absolute urgency of giving one’s heart over to life, the burning drive to have faith in the world, the insistence that everything, in its own way, is holy. This book is unfettered joy.

Tending Fires        
I wanted to write a sonnet last night,
because that’s what lovers do, but the fire
needed tending, and all I could think of
were your shoulders, and that’s not romantic,
so I put on another log, and thought
about that hot summer day underneath
that oak, when our shoulders brushed, and I blushed
at the nearness of you, and how we made
love that night . . . still . . . that’s not what I wanted
to write . . . But it’s you;  you, my love.  You are
my night and my morning, and the hot coals
beneath these logs . . . hear them hiss and whisper
like cicadas—cicadas of the trees,
and the summer, and of all things that burn.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781680030136
Publisher: Texas Review Press
Publication date: 09/15/2014
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 80
File size: 504 KB

About the Author

KARLA K. MORTON, resident of Denton and  2010 Texas Poet Laureate, is a member and Councilor of the Texas Institute of Letters.  Described as “one of the most adventurous voices in American poetry,” she is a Betsy Colquitt Award Winner, twice an Indie National Book Award Winner, and is the author of nine books of poetry. 

Table of Contents

Weeding 1

A Perfect Night at the Observatory 3

What Real Men Do 4

Landscape 5

Tending Fires 6

Adytum 7

Two Stars Over Taos 8

Ode to an Architect 9

Cyparissus 10

i ***

Teenage, Burning 13

Grey Matter in Bikinis 14

Widowed 15

Happy Hunting Grounds 16

Charlie Never Let Him Go 17

A Strange Peace 18

Rebirth 19

Eclipse 20

You Don't Know Hot 21

ii ***

Channeling Jeremiah Smooten 25

Veronica 29

Winter in Texas 31

Your Gasp 32

Nothing But Boots 33

Letter to the Grim Reaper 34

iii ***

The Making of a Hero 39

Passing the Gauntlet 41

Old Bone Dominoes 42

Walking Out 44

The Brown Palace 45

iv ***

Midnight on the Roof at Villa Velleron 49

The Patron 50

Risk of Solitude 52

Salted Waters 53

Breathless 54

Good Saturday 56

Rainbow 57

Snow Day 58

Dirty Souls 59

v ***

Contemplating the Nut 63

Whisper in the Winter 65

Letter to an Old Love 66

Diana and Apollo 67

White Cherry Moon 68

The Eternal Life of Poets 69

Overnight, the Child Becomes the Man 71

For Things That Never Lose Their Shine 72

vi ***

The Art of the Cigarette 75

Find Aunt Fran's Diamond 76

Tiny Courtships 78

My Mother, the Seer 80

Tequila Poetry Form 81

Sin 82

Scientific Proof that Love Makes the World Go Round 83

Seasons 84

God Bless America 85

No Give 86

Dawn of a Nation 87

Ben Franklin 88

vii ***

Nicole 93

God in the Bathtub 94

Twelve Stitches 95

Reference Material 96

Shameless Love Poem 97

My Moment of America 98

Pangaea 99

Paris As I See It 100

Gift Basket 101

Call Me Baby 102

Why I Married My Husband 103

viii ***

Anniversary At Sea 107

For All Things, Great and Small 108

Her Night Eyes 109

Leap Year 110

Cattails 112

Street Corners 113

Joy 114

Legend of the Aspen: The Chrysopoeia 115

A Little Flower 116

What People are Saying About This

Kevin Prufer

"The poems in Karla K. Morton's Constant State of Leaping address the big, old subjects: the deaths of loved one, the poignant intricacies of family life, the complex beauty of nature. Here, a fight with a teenage daughter becomes an opportunity for meditation on passion and the cycle of generations. Or an encounter with an old lover at his mother's funeral inspires a poem on memory and the irretrievability of the past. Or, the most moving of all, a description of a lover as "the perfect evening / arms outstretched to balance / the tumbling sun one hand, / the cool moon in the other." These poems are thoughtful, witty, and deeply graceful."
- Kevin Prufer
author of National Anthem and In a Beautiful Country

David Bowles

"Of Karla K. Morton: Her work often sparkles, at turns clever, amusing, sensual and sad, but always deeply perceptive of human nature, of the webs that bind us and keep us apart. Accessible and imagery-rich, Morton's poems have an appreciable emotional heft."
- David Bowles
author of Flower, Song, Dance: Aztec and Maya Poetry.

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