Awakening Dreams - Martina Reisz Newberry

This week we are honored to have Martina Reisz Newberry return to the show. We discuss her poem Glyphs in the Canyon from her new book Glyphs. We reflect on life's questions of reincarnation, thoughts, dreams, and perceptions.

Martina Reisz Newberry is the author of 7 books of poetry. Her most recent book is GLYPHS, due out in May 2022 from Deerbrook Editions. She is also the author of BLUES FOR FRENCH ROAST WITH CHICORY, available from Deerbrook Editions, the author of NEVER COMPLETELY AWAKE ( from Deerbrook Editions), WHERE IT GOES (Deerbrook Editions), LEARNING BY ROTE (Deerbrook Editions), RUNNING LIKE A WOMAN WITH HER HAIR ON FIRE: Collected Poems (Red Hen Press), and TAKE THE LONG WAY HOME (Unsolicited Press).

Newberry has been included in The Cenacle, Cog, Blue Nib, Braided Way, Roanoak Review, THAT Literary Review, Mortar Magazine, and many other literary magazines in the U.S. and abroad. Her work is included in the anthologies Marin Poetry Center Anthology, Moontide Press Horror Anthology,  A Decade of Sundays: L.A.'s Second Sunday Poetry Series-The First Ten Years, and many others in the U.S. and abroad.

She has been awarded residencies at Yaddo Colony for the Arts, Djerassi Colony for the Arts, and Anderson Center for Disciplinary Arts.

Passionate in her love for Los Angeles, Martina currently lives there with her husband, Brian, a Media Creative.

THE GLYPHS IN THE CANYONS

I’ve forgotten those times between                                       

wakefulness and dozing and sleep.

I know something happened, 

but I can’t recall what it was.

It’s like trying to recall where 

I was just before I was born.

 

My friend tells me that this is the                                           

reason I should never fear death. 

She says, “You don’t know where you 

were before you were born, so why 

fret about where you’ll be after

 you die?” This is wisdom I can 

acknowledge, but from which I glean                                    

no comfort and it is comfort 

I want more than nearly any

thing. I want the great eyes of God to

turn my tears to opals and the 

great tongue of God to tell me that 

 

life and death are the same--that I                                        

will keep loving and making love, and 

walking and humming, and wanting

and holding, and will never lose 

my appetite for joy or for

potato chips and onion dip and ice cream.

 

Between wakefulness and dozing                                         

and sleeping, what is there to know?

Who do I serve awake/asleep?

Who do I honor when I doze?

And why is wakefulness the stain

on all this embalmed paradise?

Her previous episode on Poetic Resurrection can be listened to here.

(We are part of the Amazon Associates program and proceeds go back into the podcast)

Glyphs is available on Amazon

Her other books are also available on Amazon and other book retailers.