Jugglers and Tides: Poems

Click cover to enlarge.

By: Priscilla Orr

ISBN 1-889262-02-1 $21.95 hardcover

Jugglers & Tides by Priscilla Orr (1997)
Priscilla Orr's powerful and eloquent first collection as she explores loss, the mother-daughter and father-daughter relationships, childlessness, searching for love, fear, sexuality, loneliness, illness, and friendship.

Detailed Information

Floundering 11

Part I:
Orchids   15
Low Tide on the Gulf, 1956   17
Desire   18
Skittish   20
Voyeur   21
First String   22
Lighthouse at Barnegat Bay   23
Living Alone   25
Promise to a Friend with Cancer   26
Cisco   27
Cabin Porch at Dusk   28
Aravaipa Canyon Elegy   30
Dusk   32
An Obsession with Murder   34

Part II:
Debris   37
Unborn Daughter   38
Obsession   40
The Blue Mug   41
Living Alone II   43
Dancer   44
Cafe Tres Bien   45
The Reservoir   46
Portrait of my Mother   48
Shame   49
heritage   50
A Walk in the Columbia County Woods,
Winter'93   51
Chasing Spirits:
A Journey on the Lost Inca Trail   52
Prayer Basket   54
Blue Curtains   55
Divorce    57
Veteran's Cemetery   58
Wanting Normal   59
The Christmas Photo   61
The Living Room Set   62
Older Woman   63
An Odd Elegy for my Mom   64
Grief   65
Silences A Personal Narrative   66

Part III:
Making Love on Shelter Island   71
Dog Mother   72
Shoreline in Late Afternoon   73
Ocean Grove   75
Jugglers and Tides   76 An Afternoon Wedding Party at the Shore   78 At the Art Museum   79
Solitaire   80
Woman on the Beach at Duxbury   84

Yearning in Four Parts   86
Acknowledgments   90
About the Author   92

Published and Reader Reviews

"Orr writes accessible poems about divorce, childlessness, parents, the presents of pets and friends, and the impact of passions and places in a woman's life."

—Ventura County Star (Mary Scott)

"...some of the best poetry being written today:Orr's work contains the inner music of good poetry and will prove a treat to all who discover her."

—Alan Caruba, Bookviews

"Orr's poetic voice is intensely personal, yet resonates with universal themes recognizable to the human experience of life and love and courage."

—Wisconsin Bookwatch

"This is a mature, intricate voice which knows life's ebb and flow, its ups and downs, the insistent rhythm of the heart."

—Paul Genega, author, Striking Water, Kings & Beggars

"Orr's poetry is unflinching it its direct gaze at the raw material of a woman's experience. Readers will recognize their own truths expressed in a new way."

—Donna Perry, Ph.D.

Book excerpt

Orchids
By Priscilla Orr

The cymbidium are the first I've bought
since our wedding. They sit in that glass
creamer that never poured right. Now
divorced longer than married, I can buy
this stem of them. They trailed
down my dress. I couldn't hold them
without my hands trembling.
You in your new suit, your lower lip puckered up,
chewing your mustache as you waited
under the hand-woven canopy. My errant date
in his polyester western suit,
finally walking with me.
All day we waited for four o'clock.
Seconds before the ceremony, I could not
catch my breath. In that little bathroomv
with the washer and dryer, I had to stop,
take two gulps of air before coming to you.
One of those blossoms got caught,
fell into the wicker wastebasket.
Time has given me a tenderness
for our failing. I picture you
with your sons and wonder why
I'm still out here.
I want another wedding,
a simple ceremony with friends and food.
I want to vow all those things I vowed
with you. As for flowers,
perhaps something less delicate,
like the tiger lily growing wild in my yard.

Living Alone II
By Priscilla Orr

My married friends tell me
it's the same for them, the silence,
how the soul keeps trying to find itself.
But I still look for you.
Last night I thought I saw you
in a bookstore. You had Rilke
in your hand. Your long lean body
seemed to rock itself as you stood there.
All these years without sex,
I might have followed you home,
fumbled with your shirt as we climbed the stairs.
All I needed was some sign.
You could have read me a line or two.
You could have placed your hand on my cheek

Dog Mother
By Priscilla Orr

Who knows why I never had a child.
But I think about it,
like the day I came home to find
the heel strap on my black leather pump
chewed through. My spaniel pup oblivious
to her crime yelped with excitement.
I was finally home.
Thinking what the shoes cost,
I tossed the good one in the back of the closet
as if half a pair could be replaced.
She licked my ankles,
paced toward the door —
what was taking me so long
to get us out on our walk?
I scooped out doggy biscuits,
from a jar on top of the fridge.
Later, when she shot down the beach after the gulls
and they sprayed up around her before scattering,
when I picked up the driftwood
with which we'd play fetch,
I wondered what had buried itself within me,
what had made me so terribly afraid.

About the Author

Priscilla Orr

Priscilla Orr, author of Jugglers & Tides, from Hannacroix Creek Books, is a recipient of fellowships from New Jersey State Council on the Arts and Yaddo and twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Orr's poems been awarded and have appeared in Southern Poetry Review, Nimrod, Worcester Review and other journals. Orr works as a poet for the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Program and is on the Cape May Getaway faculty. An Associate Professor at Sussex County Community College, she has taught literature and writing. In 2000, she started the Idiom Reading Series, and served as the first Director of the Betty June Silconas Poetry Center. She is currently serving as Interim Dean of Liberal Arts, Social Science & Education. Orr lives with Crosby, her Norwich terrier in Hamburg, NJ.

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Articles

"What I Wish Folks Had Told Me Along the Way" by Priscilla Orr

I'm sharing some thoughts with you that I wish someone had shared with me when I was just getting started as a poet.

The Importance of Reading Earnest

There is no lack of being earnest about writing poems. Reading after reading, I see poets, young and old, wrestling for the sign-up sheet for open readings so that they may share their poems. I remember once being asked by a literature professor what I was reading, and I proudly told him, "I don't need to read. I'm a writer." Ah, the arrogance of youth!

No other kind of artist works this way. Musicians can easily rattle off composers or performers who have influence them or what other musicians are doing exciting work. Painters and sculptors frequent art shows. Actors take classes. Everyone is always trying to hone in on their craft, pushing himself or herself to a new level. The wonderful thing about writing is that there is no ceiling. WE can always strive for a new vision.
I wish that professor had done more than chuckled at my response to his question. I wish he'd inspired me to want to read.

Yes, it's wonderful to share your work, to try it out, to hear the sounds coming off your tongue. Poetry is, after all, an oral tradition. Don't forget to read other poets aloud, or silent. Read the dead, the living, and the living dead. Hear the rhythms in your voice. Galway Kinnell insists that all of his graduate students memorize a poem to recite in each class. (It's tough, I know, but powerful.)

When I first started writing seriously, W.B. Yeats, Frost, and the romantics influenced me. Then I discovered contemporary poets, those with whom I worked: Sharon Olds, Galway Kinnell, Richard Hugo, Robert Haas, Eleen Bryant Voight, and the Warren Wilson writers, those I seemed to "meet" along the way. As I studied more, I increased my ability to appreciate Rilke and Bishop, probably my favorites, as well as a wider range of other poets and writers, such as Paz, Lorca, and Kunitz. Toni Morrison has been another inspiration.

Dealing with that old Writer's Block

Here's where it really helps to know yourself and your habits. What works for me may not be right for you. One poet told me that he writes every morning, regardless of how he is feeling that day. He forces himself to write a poem a day. I, like an idiot, tried to follow his advice and told all my students to do this. I almost fried myself in the process. Certainly it's crucial to write as much as possible, to deal with those pages of awful or disappointing work to give to the "live" stuff. But what helped me more than telling myself what to do was to notice what worked for me.

Notice your daydreaming

And if you're not daydreaming, start. For years, I had teachers telling me to quit frittering away my time, to pay attention to the real world. So I internalized those voices. In recent years, I've given my daydreaming real attention. What voices are speaking to me? What scenes merge? I may not literally transcribe them, but I do build a receptivity to what it is within me that wants to emerge that may become the basis of a new poem.

Meditate, pray, whatever gets you into the silence

This is related to daydreaming. This is the part that cultivates the relationship with our unconscious. I deeply respect my unconscious, my "wild mind" as Natalie Goldberg calls it.

"Pay attention to what haunts you"

I went to hear novelist Toni Morrison read from a draft of Beloved. She said that the story of a young woman trying to kill her child before selling it to slavery haunted her, "and I always pay attention to what haunts me."

Keep an image journal

When I talk about images, I am thinking of the wonderful poet and brilliant teacher Ellen Bryant Voight's definition of an image. More than a description, an image conveys emotional or psychic information. Once I asked her what she meant. I was looking at a poem of mine with her, and I couldn't see the "information" in an image. I had "Skin around the incision puffs up/a crude red ridge down her chest." She said the image conveys "violation."

There are these images indelibly imprinted within us, and there are those we are struck by. I try to keep a journal of those images because as much as I think I am going to remember, if I don't write them down, I don't.

Honing one's craft — to MFA or not to MFA

Obviously working with other writers is crucial in developing your own work. Workshops, readings, and private sessions are valuable tools. I tried these, resisting a formal MFA, because of all the horror stories I had heard. Then I found Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers. It's a low residency program meaning I got to work with a mentor long distance, and then attend a residency with workshops and classes twice a year. This is considered one of the best MFA programs and extremely difficult to get into right now. I could go on forever explaining why — respect for writing style, phenomenal faculty, and extraordinary community after graduation (alumni, 4-Way Books, Marlboro Review). But there are, of course, countless other excellent MFA programs you could consider as well.

My point is that if you decide an advanced degree is what you want to pursue, find the right place for you with faculty who will respect your sensibility, yet push you forward.

Whether you pursue a formal advanced degree or not, do keep honing you craft, in or out of school.

How do you get published?

There is no magic answer to this question. By now you probably know to buy Poets & Writers magazine, AWP (Associated Writing Programs Chronicle), Poet's Market, published annually by Writer's Digest Books. Support writers by buying their books and attending their readings. Read at least two poetry-related publications a year. But them off the stands in the bookstores. Subscribe to them. Read them at the library. That's how I got started, getting a poem published in literary magazines and an occasional award.

Get to know what publications are likely to publish your work

It may sound odd to say that one should buy poetry in order to get published. But there's the paradox. If we poets don't buy poetry, and magazines cease publishing out of disinterest, there will be fewer or no magazines left to publish your work. Also buy books. These magazines will tell you about independent, university, or mainstream presses that publish the poetry you want to buy. Check out your local independent or chain bookstores or libraries; check out online bookstores, such as amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, www.borders.com, www.booksense.com, www.powells.com, just to name a few. On that note, I will stop here, wishing you many visits from the muse.

Links of Interest

Here is a list of useful sites for poets originally compiled by Priscilla Orr and updated by Jan Yager: This list is provided for informational purposes only. None of the information, web sites, or companies listed are endorsed or recommended. Furthermore, since information can change frequently, we apologize if any of these links are out of date. Neither the author nor the publisher take responsibility for any of the written or visual content that you will find at these sites. (The links were checked on 12/15/08 and found to be accurate but changes can occur at any moment so the accuracy of any link cannot be reassured.)

Poetry Society of America (PSA)
http://www.poetrysociety.org
Founded in 1910, a membership association for those who write or appreciate poetry. PSA sponsors twelve poetry contests each year. There is an extensive links pages with resources that include poetry journals, poetry publishers, conferences, contests, poetry festivals, and poetry bookstores. The URL is:
http://www.poetrysociety.org/psa-links.php

Poets & Writers, Inc.
http://www.pw.org/
Founded in 1970, this nonprofit literary association publishes Poets & Writers magazine as well as A Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers. At the website is an extensive links page - http://www.pw.org/links_pages - with links to hundreds of associations, writing programs, literary magazines, grants, and conferences. The national headquarters is based in New York City. There is another office in Los Angeles.

The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation
http://www.grdodge.org/poetry/
A biennial poetry festival held since 1986. The 2004 event was held Duke Farms in Hillsborough, New Jersey With approximately 3,000 poets offering readings throughout the day. There is also a program throughout the year in New Jersey which helps teachers to bring poetry into the classroom.

SPONDEE
http://www.spondee.net
A site with links to approximately 100 poets' sites that is published by William Sell; it was founded by Sell's mentor and teacher, John Faragher. Includes an extensive links pages of more than 60 sites on the Internet related to poetry.

Associated Writing Programs
http://www.awpwriter.org
Founded in 1967, AWP publishes the AWP Chronicle. Also publishes and sells a directory, The Official Guide to Writing Programs, listing over 250 college and university programs. Its mission is to promote quality creative writing programs in higher education.

Academy of American Poets
http://www.poets.org
Founded in 1934, a non-profit membership organization to help poets throughout their careers. One of their activities is sponsoring National Poetry Month, which started in 1996 and is celebrated each April.

Reading Group Guide

READING GROUP GUIDE

JUGGLERS AND TIDES

Prisclla Orr

5-1/2x8 92 pages

Hannacroix Creek Books 1997

ISBN: 1-889262-02-1 $21.95 hardcover

Poetry

Summary:

Jugglers and Tides is Priscilla Orr’s powerful and eloquent first collection. Here is the

full range of Orr’s penetrating, lyrical, and philosophical view of the world as she

explores and probes loss, the mother-daughter relationship, childlessness, searching for

love, fear, sexuality, loneliness, the father-daughter relationship, illness, and friendship.

What the Critics Are Saying:

“…some of the best poetry being written today…Orr’s work contains the inner

music of good poetry and will prove a treat to all who discover her.”

—Alan Caruba, Bookviews

“Orr’s poetic voice is intensely personal, yet resonates with universal

themes recognizable to the human experience of life and love and courage.”

Wisconsin Bookwatch

Jugglers and Tides is available at local bookstores, on-line, or directly from the publisher

Reading Group Discussion Points

1. Why do you think Orr began her collection with the poem “Floundering?”

2. How does the title poem, “Jugglers and Tides,” illuminate the themes in the other

poems?

3. Are the poems autobiographical?

4. What feelings or themes in your own life are evoked by Orr’s collected poems?

5. Pick out your favorite poem in the collection. What does it mean?

6. How is the tide a force throughout the book?

7. Why do you think the poet writes sad poems?

8. Orr wrote a poem about her mother’s favorite kind of book. What is that poem? What

kind of book did Orr’s mother like to read? What is your favorite book?

9. What reemerges throughout all of Orr’s poems in terms of imagery, ideas, or colors?

What ideas do you find especially appealing or provocative? Why is the tone in Orr’s

poetry so direct, so “down to the bone?”

10. Why does Orr end her collection with the poem, “Yearning?”

About the Author

Priscilla Orr graduated from the University of Montana. She also holds an M.A. from

Columbia University’s Teachers College and an M.F.A. from Warren Wilson College. A

New Jersey Council on the Arts fellowship recipient, Orr was raised in Mississippi and

Montana. She started writing poetry at fifteen, after her family could no longer afford to

give her piano lessons. “Images stay with me,” writes Orr, “and the rhythms and sound all

seem to help me get at that interior place where we make sense of the world and our

experience of it.”

Her poems have been published in Nimrod, Southern Poetry Review, Croton Review, and

other prestigious journals. She now resides in New Jersey where she teaches at a college

as well as conducting poetry and memoir writing workshops.

Selected Recommended Readings

On the Craft of Poetry

Kalstone, Charles. Elizabeth Bishop with Marianne Moore and Robert Lowell. Becoming

a Poet. NY: Noonday Press, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1989.

Dillard, Annie. The Writing Life. NY: Harper & Row, 1989.

Gibbons, Reginald, editor. The Poet’s Work: 29 Poets on The Origins and Practice of

Their Art. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979.

Orr, Gregory and Ellen Bryant Voight, editors. Poets Teaching Poets: Self and the World.

Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996.

Poets

Bernard, Pam. My Own Hundred Doors. Treadwell, NY: Bright Hill Press, 1996.

Bosselaar, Laure-Anne. The Hour Between Dog and Wolf. Rochester, NY: BOA Editions

Ltd., 1997.

Dudley, Ellen. Slow Burn. Provincetown, MA: Provincetown Arts Press, Inc., 1997.

Levis, Larry. The Dollmaker’s Ghost. Pittsburgh: Carngie Mellon University Press, 1992.

McFadden, Mary Ann. Eye of the Blackbird. Marshfield, MA: Four Way Books, 1997.

Rhodes, Martha. At the Gate. Provincetown, MA: Provincetown Arts Press, Inc., 1995.

Stahlecker, Beth. Three Flights Up. Marshfield, MA: Four Way Books, 1996.

Media and Other Inquiries

To book poet Priscilla Orr for poetry readings at festivals, libraries, or bookstores, as well as for broadcast or print interviews, send an e-mail to the publicity department at Hannacroix Creek Books: publicist@hannacroixcreekbooks.com or fax (203) 968-0193. (For time sensitive requests, our phone number is: 203-321-8674.)

If you are a member of the media, contact hannacroix@aol.com to access the press release and sample interview questions, for Jugglers and Tides and poet Priscilla Orr.

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