[Mark McDonnell]

I have two poems, "Communion" and "Hydrotherapy", in the new issue of Stand magazine. Both a few years old but I'm pleased they have finally found a home.

My thanks to editor John Whale for taking them.

https://www.standmagazine.org/current-issue

[David Callin]

Go Mark!

Now you have to decide where to send "Ulysses". Choose carefully. It's a quality product.

David

[Clive Watkins]

Splendid, Mark! Let there be more…

Clive

[Joe Crocker]

Stand Magazine appears to be yet another venue that hasn't so far appeared on my poetry map. I am woefully uninformed. I have only been wondering around this part of the world for a year or two. Most of what I read are the things I get free online. But it would be nice to have a shortish list of goto journals, that I could find in my small local library, or even (deep breath) take out a subscription for. Any recommendations? (Dark Horse looks a likely one)

Sorry to hijack this thread Mark. And, belated congrats. The journal has a good look about it. Pity we can't read the poems though.

Joe

[Mark McDonnell]

Thanks, David and Clive. I'll do my best.

Joe, I'm still pretty uninformed about 7 years after entering this strange world. I really like Dark Horse and it's the only one I subscribe to, for financial reasons as much as anything. Other than that, I just every now and then get an urge to try to send some stuff out and I Google to remind myself of what's out there. I'll PM you the poems!

[John Riley]

I can’t get to the poem but congratulations.

[Ned Balbo]

Hi Mark ~ would love to read these (as you know) but I'm paywalled out. Hoping to catch a glimpse somehow, some way!

[Mark McDonnell]

Hi John and Ned! Thank you. Well, I suppose there's no harm in posting them here? (is there?) Here ya go...

Hydrotherapy

It's only chlorine, but it clings,
might spoil the taste of the soup tonight,
might bring that clean medicinal stink
to his blanket fug, his yellow ceiling,
his standard lamp and warm black beer.

And here, the buzzing flytrap strip lights,
bastard things, they throw their dancing
protozoa on the walls.

Doctor's orders, nannying him
to float — he feels a stubborn fool.
A Tuesday. Crib night. A busy pool
with kids whose cries, if he shuts his eyes,
echo like a sinking ship.

His choices aren't his own these days.
It's dark out. Vending machines won't do
and one of his legs is dead again.

Holding the side, as once his wife,
he waits there, braced for any feeling,
half glad this is the only life.


Communion

All day we felt it in our mouths, a tingling
while we practised our small promises:
to place our tongues like so, and to be good,
to not make silly cups out of our palms
the way we knew the bigger children would.

Garlanded or slickly parted, we touched
each other's hair, felt the strange freedom
of the cool afternoon. The pinks and blues
of blossom on the cobbles helped us bear
our private calvaries, our stiff new shoes.

[Ned Balbo]

These are great, Mark. I love "Hydrotherapy"'s caretaker-speaker's (son's?) balance of empathy & detachment. You feel for the older man (dad?). Great details. And "Communion" really captures what it's like, generation after generation: kids struggling through ritual. Both poems witty ~ beautifully crafted, too.

[Rick Mullin]

Lookin' good, Mark. Congrats!
RM