{"id":27317,"date":"2014-12-20T22:33:11","date_gmt":"2014-12-21T04:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=27317"},"modified":"2023-11-20T15:49:19","modified_gmt":"2023-11-20T21:49:19","slug":"sunday-bog-read-markay-brown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/sunday-bog-read-markay-brown\/","title":{"rendered":"READ LOCAL First: Markay Brown"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MarKay<\/a><\/p>\n

READ LOCAL First<\/strong>\u00a0is your glimpse into the working minds and hearts of Utah\u2019s literary writers. Each month, 15 Bytes offers works-in-progress and \/ or recently published work by some of the state\u2019s most celebrated and promising writers of fiction, poetry, literary non-fiction and memoir.<\/p>\n

Today, 15 Bytes features St. George-based poet Markay Brown<\/strong>.\u00a0Here she provides four poems, part of her work titled Eve’s Child <\/em>which won 1st place in the 2014 Utah Original Writing Competition in the category of poetry collection judged by Richard Howard who referred to the winning entry as “a great work, a new poet\u2019s triumph. But there is a tonality other than triumph.\u201d Along with others who placed in the competition founded in 1958, she was presented with a cash award by Utah’s Poet Laureate Lance Larsen in November.<\/p>\n

Sunday Blog Read continues to accrue a distinguished group of established and emerging Utah writers for your review and enjoyment.<\/p>\n

So curl up with your favorite cup of joe and enjoy the work of Markay!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Flux<\/strong><\/p>\n

from an oil painting by Jay Taylor<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Triptych daughter in a gray-striped dress,<\/p>\n

taffy yellow hair damp from play,<\/p>\n

three poses on a stone bench:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. Forward\u2014wide violet eyes,<\/p>\n

hands crossed in your lap,<\/p>\n

bare feet crossed at ankles.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2. Sideward–chin up,<\/p>\n

eyes heaven-bent,<\/p>\n

arms lifted, fingers splayed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3. Motion—whirl of gray, white,<\/p>\n

your arms reaching<\/p>\n

down to a rough rock floor<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

toward a transparent apple,<\/p>\n

a crumpled, clear and empty<\/p>\n

paper bag.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I want to climb inside the canvas window,<\/p>\n

hold your face in my hands:<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t touch that apple!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But it\u2019s fruitless.<\/p>\n

Like me,<\/p>\n

you are Eve\u2019s child.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Original Sins<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Where I\u2019m from<\/p>\n

folks followed the plow,<\/em><\/p>\n

in the old days with matched horses\u2014<\/p>\n

I remember Prince paired with Pat.<\/p>\n

Now they partner with Deere,<\/p>\n

air-conditioned,<\/p>\n

and Kansas kin inhabit their fields<\/p>\n

with oil derricks hunting<\/p>\n

and pecking the ground<\/p>\n

like iron ducks and chicks.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019m from cracked china,<\/p>\n

dust in the sugar bowl,<\/p>\n

caf\u00e9 cooks and story tellers,<\/p>\n

country fiddlers on the roof<\/p>\n

who really came from Russia,<\/p>\n

from German-speaking lovers of Old Glory<\/p>\n

who sat in war-time jails.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019m from Prohibition whiskey-drinking drunks<\/p>\n

who gave their last dimes to a toothless old lady<\/p>\n

or a boy needing bail<\/p>\n

for kiting a check to buy bread.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019m from mortar boards, books,<\/p>\n

new religion, Beethoven,<\/p>\n

grand pianos, grand notions,<\/p>\n

summer houses, beach vacations.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But I walk with my toes pointed out<\/p>\n

like I\u2019m pushing that old wooden plow.<\/p>\n

I tell myself: Steady now, keep<\/p>\n

on the course plotted<\/p>\n

by those<\/p>\n

before you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dancing to Ray Charles, 1960<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Seattle night, sultry<\/p>\n

unknown part of town.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My comrades, strangers<\/p>\n

outside our shared summer jobs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An extra ticket peeled me<\/p>\n

from my cocoon onto a darkened bus<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

toward an uncertain rendezvous.<\/p>\n

The crowd jangled through the doors,<\/p>\n

excitement sparkling off their dresses,<\/p>\n

shaming my plain-clothed sensibility.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bleacher seats lined the room,<\/p>\n

a dance floor centered, ready.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On stage, a single ebony grand.<\/p>\n

Led to the piano at the hour,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

a pleasant-faced, dark-glassed man<\/p>\n

took the microphone and crowed,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hello, Seattle! <\/em>to wild applause.<\/p>\n

Smiling broadly, Ray leaned back his head,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

fingered an intro, sang:<\/p>\n

Georgia, Georgia, no peace I find. . .<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

In Sweet Potato Pie<\/em> heaven with Ray,<\/p>\n

I danced with a boy who didn\u2019t mind<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

my awkward prance, jived for both of us.<\/p>\n

In Selma or Savannah we couldn\u2019t<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

use the same drinking fountain<\/p>\n

or sit together on a bus. In Seattle<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

that night we were boy and girl<\/p>\n

wrapped together in Ray\u2019s song.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even now<\/p>\n

I wish I knew those moves.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ephemeral Wings<\/strong><\/p>\n

from a James Christensen painting <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She chases a white butterfly,<\/p>\n

sleeve wings billowing<\/p>\n

focused on fair flight<\/p>\n

while we\u2019re warm<\/p>\n

in her small sun.<\/p>\n

Bright vision,<\/p>\n

she puffs hundreds<\/p>\n

of wings skyward, twirls,<\/p>\n

captures white dandelion chaff.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We reach unconsciously<\/p>\n

to brace her, embrace<\/p>\n

the instant<\/p>\n

while light burns.<\/p>\n

While we\u2019re warm<\/p>\n

in her small sun,<\/p>\n

she vanishes into<\/p>\n

the apple orchard<\/p>\n

following petals<\/p>\n

freed by the breeze.<\/p>\n

We lament<\/p>\n

the eye\u2019s anatomy,<\/p>\n

our need to blink,<\/p>\n

our eyes heavy as<\/p>\n

Leviticus.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

#<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"am_ops_comp_owc_winners_nov14_4\"<\/a>Markay Brown began writing poetry in 2002. Her work has been published in Southern Quill<\/em>, Segullah<\/em>, Encore<\/em>, Panorama<\/em>, Provo Orem Word<\/em>, Utah Sings<\/em>, among others. Markay serves as president of Redrock Writers, a St. George chapter of the Utah State Poetry Society.\u00a0She won first place in the 2014 Utah Original Writing Competition for Eve\u2019s Child, <\/em>her collection of fifty poems. The judge was Richard Howard, Pulitzer Prize winning poet and teacher at Columbia University.\u00a0Brown is an intermittent blogger at MarkayBrown.com<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

READ LOCAL First\u00a0is your glimpse into the working minds and hearts of Utah\u2019s literary writers. Each month, 15 Bytes offers works-in-progress and \/ or recently published work by some of the state\u2019s most celebrated and promising writers of fiction, poetry, literary non-fiction and memoir. Today, 15 Bytes features […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1566,"featured_media":27318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,2513],"tags":[2173,2171,2172,2174],"class_list":["post-27317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-literary-arts","category-read-local-first","tag-eves-child","tag-markay-brown","tag-richard-howard","tag-utah-original-writing-competition"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/MarKay-Brown.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-25 07:06:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1566"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27317"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72056,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27317\/revisions\/72056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}