Sample Poem

Tough Bird

I’ve begun to smell like my grandmother.
Not the one who wore lilacs
pinned to her pink boucle on Easter,
white gloves, book of prayer, gilded pages.
No, the other one with large appetites—
Jim Beam, “shut-up and deal me
some decent cards, goddammit,”
tapping ash from a Salem Menthol.
You can almost see the bacon grease
running down her living room wall
behind my grandfather chugging oxygen
in his scabby recliner.

Dim afternoons on a ruby bar stool,
L&M Steakhouse, where we all
visited my grandparents when I was a kid—
my uncles, Dad, Aunt Phyllis.
I think I would enjoy this crowd—
cackling laughter, large-nosed barbs—
were I to spend time with them
now that I’ve begun to smell
like a woman who can hold her own.

© Karen Hildebrand
First published in Blue Mesa Review.

Sept and Oct 2011 Events and Publication

My poem "Booty Call" is included in this beautiful book. Get your copy here or at one of these events, where I will be reading with other poets from the journal. Thanks Uphook Press!

Thurs, Sept 29
Cornelia Street Cafe
New York
6 pm

Wed, Oct 5
Art House Gallery and Cultural Center
2905 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley
7 pm

Fri, Oct 7
Viracocha
998 Valencia St, San Francisco
8 pm

A Gathering of the Tribes

My poem, "Women Like Us," is included in Issue 13, now available. Best way to get your copy is at the launch party:

Saturday, July 23, 2011
5-7 pm
Poet's House
10 River Terrace
New York City
212-431-7920

$10 at the door gets you a copy of the magazine
rsvp to info@tribes.org

Not in NYC? Order your copy here.

We Need to Talk

Just look at him
leaning forward, straddling the chair
legs looped around the rungs
ballcap bill smudged from his earnest tugs
picking at the paint beneath his nails
facing the constant jiggle of my foot.
A fly lights on the table between us
and I strangle every drop from my teabag.

K. Hildebrand
This poem first appeared in Fourteen Hills.

Next Up, July 15, 2011

I'll be the featured poet for Kat Georges' popular Son of Pony series on Friday, July 15. There's an open mic, so I'm asking all my poet friends to come and read a poem. You get 3 minutes--it'll be a blast. Arrive before 6 to sign up.

Friday, July 15
Cornelia Street Cafe
29 Cornelia Street
NYC
6-8pm
$7 gets you a free drink

Photo is from 2008 preview performance of "The Old In and Out" on the Cornelia St. Cafe stage.

Upcoming in Uphook Press, gape-seed

My poem "Booty Call" will appear in the Uphook Press anthology, gape-seed, due out in September, 2011. There will be readings in New York City and San Francisco. Just learned of the Bay Area dates and locations. Looking forward to seeing all my West Coast friends!

Wed October 5th
Art House Gallery and Cultural Center, 2905 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley
7pm

Friday October 7th
Viracocha, 998 Valencia St, San Francisco
8pm

On the Radio

On Friday afternoon (5-27-11), I traded poems in a broadcast with Jane Ormerod and Joan Gelfand on the internet radio show, Writer's Santuary. The session is archived, so can hear me read "Booty Call," "Letter to My Spine," and "Hazard," here. I also read a short piece from my play, "The Old In and Out," (Three Rooms Press) and a new piece that I'm still working on.

The radio show was a lot of fun--we have good chemistry. I hope you'll come to the June 6 reading in NYC at Jefferson Market Library and hear us read in person. Details in Upcoming Readings.