Location LA by Martha Ronk

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend January 14, 2015   Location LA   Martha Ronk

Never arriving in a city missing in locational drift plates shifting under building facades and whipped décor, seas rising and falling at the edge of amusements and surf. The migrations migrating elsewhere, monarchs lost on their way south, children coming north in droves on their way to anywhere else. The city of lost souls blowing in the Santa Ana winds and people who are not us no matter who we are. Where is she now, he asks, what ever happened to the girl named for a saint, the one with the ankle tattoo the one who dropped out, lost out, & only just arrived.            Copyright © 2015 by Martha Ronk. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “‘Location LA’ is part of a series of short poems on the vulnerable city I live in: climate change, earthquakes, Santa Ana winds, drought, high school dropouts, homeless, and newly arrived families. Yet, as many cities in Calvino’s book Invisible Cities, it has always remained invisible, slippery, an enigma.” —Martha Ronk   Martha Ronk is the author of Transfer of Qualities (Omnidawn Publishing, 2013). She teaches at Occidental College and lives in Los Angeles. Most Recent Book by Ronk   Transfer of Qualities (Omnidawn Publishing, 2013) "The Chicago Poem" by Jerome Rothenberg "Tale of Two Cities" by Mark Jarman "Move to the City" by Nathaniel Bellows Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038