By Flapper Press Poetry Café:
The Flapper Press Poetry Café continues to support poets from around the globe and takes great pride in featuring their new work. We continue our new series called Poetry Spotlight in which poets are invited to entice readers with a look into their latest work along with some of the poet's insight, inspirations, and their favorite lines of poetry from their books.
We invite you to submit a poem and a favorite line from the work for the Poetry Spotlight series, or submit your poetry and writing to Flapper Press via our regular Submission Guidelines!
This week, we've invited Ashely Mabbitt to share her favorite lines from her new poetry book, A Self, a Frame, a Look in Through.
Ashley Mabbitt is an American poet. Her work explores such topics as art, consciousness, family, silence, and the stillness of time. Her poems have appeared in The Ekphrastic Review, Emerge, Plume, Ravensperch, South Florida Poetry Journal, and The Summerset Review. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she works for an academic publisher. Ashley's first full-length book is A Self, a Frame, a Look in Through (Kelsay Books). She is currently writing a new collection.
You can learn more about Ashley Mabbitt on her website and from her Instagram account: @ashley_mabbitt
"Seated Bather with Feet Apart"
Auguste Rodin
She might still forget.
She might be able to watch
as the surface of her bath dissolves each recurring thought
she has been unable to see around for days.
Under the surface,
she grips her second toes between thumbs and forefingers,
massaging the places on her feet where toes attach.
Knees and thighs pressed together, but lower legs
wide apart, as she leans her torso forward.
If her face and neck were here with us,
they would glisten with droplets of steam so tiny
as to create a single layer of continuous moisture, over her cheeks,
down her neck, even over the round caps where arms and shoulders meet,
and move slightly as she rubs her toes,
thinking whether her thoughts will be satisfied
to stay behind in the bathwater
if she stands up now to leave.
Favorite line from this poem:
“She might be able to watch
as the surface of her bath dissolves each recurring thought
she has been unable to see around for days.”
From Ashley Mabbitt:
While looking closely at this quite small and very detailed Rodin bronze sculpture of a woman bathing, even though her head and neck are absent, I felt as though I recognized a human longing for a momentary, joyful escape from one’s struggles to make a lasting impression, to act as a positive inflection point.
I focus on a truly eclectic mix of subjects, all closely observed. Looking at anything with purpose and a sense of openness (whether an object, memory, work of art, or relationship) for long enough yields powerful truths.
The Flapper Press Poetry Café
We welcome submissions from poets for the Flapper Press Poetry Café Poetry Spotlight series. We are always looking for compelling poetry and look forward to publishing and supporting your creative endeavors.
Submissions may also be considered for the Pushcart Prize. Please review our guidelines before submitting. By submitting your work to Flapper Press, you agree to allow us permission to publish. Please note that we receive numerous submissions throughout the year and endeavor to publish as soon as our calendar allows.
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