Light Sleeper

Some people need night-lights in order to sleep, and others need darkness. I'm in the darkness camp, and darkness is getting harder to achieve in our non-stop lit world. My poem "Light Sleeper" is published in a lovely British online journal, The Lake.

Blue Inside Green

My unrhymed sonnet "Blue Inside Green" about how a child learns, how something as common as nesting bowls can shape our futures, is published in Snapdragon: A Journal of Art & Healing, 5.2

"Meet Ryszard Krynicki"

That's the title of my article which appears in the May/Summer 2019 issue of The Writer's Chronicle, sponsored by Association of Writers & Writing Programs. This is a big deal. (awpwriter.org)

This Polish poet writes poems that feel, as Jan Blonski said, "like a shot in the heart." Krynicki is a master of compression and compassion. He is in the Nobel Prize league.

Although you can't read it online (unless you're an AWP member), if you care about poetry, please find it in the library of any university with an MFA program or sometimes in enlightened Barnes & Nobles or independent book stores. It's the most important thing I've ever written.

Springerle

This poem is autobiographical. Springerle were good cookies to send to American troops in Germany during the Second World War because they had no butter. Only three ingredients; eggs, butter, and flour. I have my own mold, now, and bake them every December.

The poem is published in Hawaii Pacific Review: https://hawaiipacificreview.org/2019/04/29/springerle/?fbclid=IwAR1Ruv_vANQiSA4KYGif8pBqJpkoRtZ_8ihcEGNcj-Se5pYbl19Ycn-bIPM

No Moon Midnight

I'm so pleased that Moria published my poem "No Moon Midnight" and with a stunning photo of a sunset. This one received much praise on Facebook. How baffling than something so personal is what resonated with so many--but that's practically a definition of poetry.

Here's the link: https://www.moriaonline.com/issue-three/2019/4/29/no-moon-midnight-by-sara-backer?fbclid=IwAR1rYgbKD-LghlcIvF4gLQjWFZtT13om-OJNoXUx_kmSISr_sBPs5rapHfQ

The Winter of Our Marriage

Ah, cabin fever--white walls, white snow.  Published in SWWIM: https://www.swwim.org/blog/2019/4/18/the-winter-of-our-marriage

The Genius

A very aberrant loose sonnet published in Writing in a Woman's Voice. (Originally appeared in Mithila Review.)  Enjoy: https://writinginawomansvoice.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-genius-by-sarabacker-shes.html

Pencil Leaf

This short poem came out of a prompt to pair two random words. The words became my title. You can read it online at Turtle Island Quarterly (10 Jan 2019).

27 Saras

An autobiographical poem inspired by Wayne-Holloway Smith's poem "Some Waynes" and published by Queens University of Charlotte journal QU. (5 Jan 2019)

I Can Do Nothing for the Woman in the Air-Conditioned Room

Read Dante Alighieri's Canto III of The Inferno and then go to Nonbinary Review to read my 21st century example. What better way to celebrate New Year's Day?

(Anyone else remember the one-hit wonder "Just Walk Away Renee"?)

Oh, What a Night!

This prose poem combines hallucination with memory to achieve insight. Published on December 31 in one of my favorite online sites, Journal of Compressed Creative Arts. Nominated for  a Best Small Fiction award.

Such Luck

A semi-surreal poem about my California single girl days published in the wonderful Pedestal Magazine. (Trigger warning: this poem includes a talking non-human.)

A Stranger Asks

This poem came out of a prompt to write a long poem in one sentence. A good way to get your internal editor out of the way and let it spill. Published on December 17 by Valparaiso Poetry Review.

One Line Poems

After reading Robert Hass' book on form, I became intrigued by the single line form. I wrote seven poems using conjunctions as titles and Amaryllis published them. They are not to be read as a single poem. Take them slowly, each separate. A special delight that they were published on November 5,International Time Travel Day.