Coronal
by J.C. Todd
everywhere perfumed
lilacs, roses, I forget
the air is viral
outside hospitals
and markets, refrigerator trucks
cool tulips, corpses
prick of salty mist
seaside weather of my cheeks
underneath the mask
J. C. Todd is the author of five collections of poetry including Beyond Repair, forthcoming in 2020 from Able Muse Press, and The Damages of Morning, a 2019 Eric Hoffer Award finalist. Winner of the Rita Dove Prize in Poetry and twice a finalist for Poetry Society of America awards, she has received fellowships from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts.
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What surprising, fascinating stuff can you tell us about the origin, drafting, and/or final version of “Coronal”? For the first month of shelter in place, I composed a haiku-a-day during my daily walk, responding to something corona virus-related I’d seen or experienced. The second month, I fooled around, grouping the haikus into short sequences, each one is titled “Coronal.” If I was digitally competent, I would have created a random sequence program but I’m not, so they were grouped my conscious mind.
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Matter Press recently released titles from Meg Boscov, Abby Frucht, Robert McBrearty, Tori Bond, Kathy Fish, and Christopher Allen. Click here.
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Submissions
Poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction/prose poetry submissions are now closed. The reading period for standard submissions opens again September 15, 2025. Submit here.
Upcoming
05/04 • Leath Tonino
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