{"id":32849,"date":"2016-03-27T21:45:11","date_gmt":"2016-03-28T03:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=32849"},"modified":"2018-09-06T02:24:12","modified_gmt":"2018-09-06T08:24:12","slug":"sunday-blog-read-melody-newey-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/sunday-blog-read-melody-newey-johnson\/","title":{"rendered":"READ LOCAL First: Melody Newey Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Melody<\/a>SUNDAY BLOG READ\u00a0<\/strong>is 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 we are featuring Salt Lake City-based poet Melody Newey<\/strong>\u00a0Johnson\u00a0<\/b>who here provides first a shape poem in honor of Easter (today) and then a selection of her self-described “Tiny Poem Tuesdays.”\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Originally from Provo, Melody has spent many hours in the past commuting to Salt Lake for work. Many of these works were written on public transportation and then promptly posted to her Facebook page. \u00a0Says Melody, “I believe in a relationship between truth and brevity\u00ad.” As such, this current project of tiny poems is an attempt “to winnow poems to the smallest version of themselves\u2013without compromising depth or meaning\u2013specifically for consumption in social media.” By doing this, she hopes to introduce poetry to “the masses” . . . or at least to her friends on Facebook. \u00a0She quotes celebrated poet Mary Oliver<\/a>\u00a0in this endeavor:\u00a0“I believe poetry is convivial . . . it’s very old, very sacred . . . it wishes for community. It’s a community ritual, certainly. And that’s why when you write a poem, you write it for anybody and everybody. You have to be ready to do that–out of your single self. It’s a giving. It’s a gift to yourself, but it’s a gift to anybody who has a hunger for it.”<\/p>\n

So curl up with your favorite cup of Joe, and enjoy the work of Melody Newey Johnson!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A poem for Easter Sunday
\nStations of the Cross: Twelve<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What has<\/p>\n

become of<\/p>\n

post and beam,<\/p>\n

of the forgiven few who hung you there?<\/p>\n

Where is the stone, the napkin, the doubter?<\/p>\n

Where is<\/p>\n

anything,<\/p>\n

anyone who<\/p>\n

touched<\/p>\n

you then?<\/p>\n

And does it<\/p>\n

matter now\u00ad,<\/p>\n

tonight,<\/p>\n

while your<\/p>\n

voice fills<\/p>\n

my heart,<\/p>\n

pulses<\/p>\n

through<\/p>\n

veins<\/p>\n

beneath<\/p>\n

blood<\/p>\n

moon.<\/p>\n

Feb 9 2016 5:48 AM<\/p>\n

A Valentine (from God)<\/strong>
\nBe an observer
\nof your own life<\/p>\n

be both
\nsun and flower<\/p>\n

find Me
\nin everything<\/p>\n

let Love be
\nyour favorite teacher.<\/p>\n

You began as
\na curve,
\na comma
\nin your mother’s
\nwomb<\/p>\n

unfurl yourself
\nstretch your heart<\/p>\n

let your fingers open wide
\naway from your palm<\/p>\n

then hold
\nsomeone’s hand<\/p>\n

tell the whole world
\nabout it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jan 26 2016 6:37 AM<\/p>\n

This is how I know you<\/strong><\/p>\n

(the same way I
\nknew my babies)<\/p>\n

by your scent
\nand by the
\nalmost-silent
\nsounds you make
\nin the night.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jan 5 2016 10:42 AM<\/p>\n

Music and Silence<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today I caught a glimpse of<\/p>\n

invisible strings
\nrun between lovers —
\nstrung tight, tuned to each other
\nthrough days and years of living.<\/p>\n

I heard sympathetic vibrations.<\/p>\n

I saw an old woman’s fingers
\nwoven between her husband’s
\nwhen he died.<\/p>\n

This is why we fear Love:
\nthe music,
\nthe silence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dec 1 2015 6:28 AM<\/p>\n

Last night I dreamed a poem<\/strong><\/p>\n

written by a man
\nwho lost his love–<\/p>\n

he was a child again
\nwithout a home<\/p>\n

and with lamplight too dim
\nto tie his shoes by.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nov 17 2015 8:47 PM<\/p>\n

Illicit Affair<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I profess disdain
\nfor coming winds,
\nfor cold, howling nights,
\nthe long dark of winter.<\/p>\n

But on that first afternoon,
\nwhen snow has not yet fallen,
\nhas not even considered the air,
\nonly hinted from a distance,
\nwith her soft, familiar perfume\u2013<\/p>\n

I am mad in love,
\ncrazy with desire for
\nbiting wind, sky so blue
\nit chatters your teeth,<\/p>\n

for mornings so quiet
\neven lovers stop
\nto listen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

July 7 2015 2:21 PM<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Not always
\nbut sometimes
\nI prefer
\nthe company
\nof trees
\nto the company<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

23 June 2015 8:49 AM<\/p>\n

Thank you, God, for this<\/strong><\/p>\n

one life
\none voice<\/p>\n

and days
\nenough
\nto sing
\nall the music<\/p>\n

you wrote
\nin me.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

16 June 2015 2:10 PM<\/p>\n

What Shakespeare (and Browning) Knew\u00a0<\/strong>
\nIf I could write
\nwords of flesh<\/p>\n

your shoulder
\nwould be a sonnet,<\/p>\n

how it loves me–
\nlet me count the ways.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mar 17 2015 5:05 AM<\/p>\n

Lit<\/strong>
\nI am a match<\/p>\n

struck against
\nall the wrong
\nsurfaces<\/p>\n

until you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Feb 24 2015 4:11 AM<\/p>\n

Dear Beloved<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If there is a difference
\nbetween laughing
\nand flying<\/p>\n

you\u2019re the one
\nto teach me.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Feb 17 2015 6:37 PM<\/p>\n

Near Virgin, Utah<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Last night
\nwhen I looked up
\ninto black-blue
\nstar-cut sky<\/p>\n

after creeping
\nmy car down
\na gravel road
\nI thought:<\/p>\n

it’s good
\nto be at home
\nin wilderness<\/p>\n

it’s good
\nto be at peace
\non the edges of light.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dec 30 2014 6:54 AM<\/p>\n

Morning at the Train Station<\/strong><\/p>\n

Spring rain
\nmakes
\nwhite noise.<\/p>\n

Winter snow
\nmakes<\/p>\n

white quiet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dec 2 2014 7:55 AM<\/p>\n

About the Sky<\/strong><\/p>\n

What
\nwould
\nwe do
\nwithout
\nthe blue?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nov 18 2014 6:10 PM<\/p>\n

Seasons
\nchange
\nthemselves<\/p>\n

and
\nme.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Oct 14 2014 5:49 AM<\/p>\n

Night Sky<\/strong><\/p>\n

Remember
\nwhen you lost
\nfirst love?<\/p>\n

How your heart
\nshattered into
\na thousand
\nstars.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sept 16 2014 5:09 AM<\/p>\n

Notes to a Lover<\/strong>
\nTonight:
\nthe rain
\nand you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sept 1 2014 3:45 AM<\/p>\n

Last Night I Prayed<\/strong>
\nI want this [life]
\nto be easy.<\/p>\n

God said,
\nit is.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

July 22 2014 5:00AM<\/p>\n

I dreamed a question: What Happens When We Die?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Swim!<\/em> He said.
\nPush off the bottom
\nof the hundred-feet-deep,
\nleave your seal suit behind
\nand come find us.<\/p>\n

Swim!<\/em> She said,
\nup, toward the light,
\nbreak the surface,
\ntake a breath
\nand fly home.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May 13 2014 8:38 AM<\/p>\n

Perhaps God fashioned us
\nfrom dust, whispers, and mystery.<\/p>\n

Or perhaps the sea formed us
\nfrom saline, sand, and memory\u2013
\nbefore God knew what he was doing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

April 24 2014 8:29 AM<\/p>\n

Jesus<\/strong><\/p>\n

my
\none word
\nprayer<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

April 8 2014 10:06 AM<\/p>\n

Watching Wild Rabbits Play<\/strong><\/p>\n

The only way to tell the truth
\nis with a question. So, I ask:
\nWhat has become of the soft,
\nbrown things we once were?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mar 18 2014 7:48 AM<\/p>\n

The Sea<\/strong><\/p>\n

She will take\u00a0what
\nyou’ll surrender-
\nfrom your lungs,
\nyour thoughts,
\nor hands.<\/p>\n

She will take it
\nand run with it.<\/p>\n

But she always
\nbrings it back
\nas something new,
\nsomething more (or less)
\nand usually shinier.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Feb 18 2014 9:54 PM<\/p>\n

Intimacy<\/strong>
\na kiss may
\nmean nothing,
\na word can
\nsay everything,
\nand the soul
\nwill find itself<\/p>\n

captivated
\nby a glance<\/p>\n

without a moment’s
\nnotice.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Feb 11 2014 8:48 AM<\/p>\n

Winter reveals
\nempty nests
\nbuilt last spring.<\/p>\n

My heart is in
\none of them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jan 28 2014 5:57 AM<\/p>\n

It’s frozen now\u2013
\nswollen, hard around
\nstepping-stones
\nin the garden.
\nI miss the smell of dirt.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

#<\/p>\n

Copyright, Melody Newey Johnson, 2016<\/p>\n

\"Exponent-Winter-2016-cover<\/a>Melody Newey Johnson’s first collection, Fifty-Two: A Year of Tiny Poems<\/em>, is a work in progress. Her award-winning poems have appeared in Irreantum, Segullah, Utah Voices 2012, Utah Sings,<\/em> and elsewhere. New works will also appear in two anthologies slated for 2016. Her poetry has been featured in collaborative art exhibits in the Salt Lake Art Center and as part of the 2002 Winter Olympic small gallery project. Melody is poetry editor for Exponent II<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n

Past featured writers in <\/em>15 Bytes\u2019 Sunday Blog Read:\u00a0Katharine Coles<\/a>, Michael McLane<\/a>, Darrell Spencer<\/a>, Larry Menlove<\/a>,Christopher Bigelow<\/a>, Shanan Ballam<\/a>, Steve Proskauer<\/a>, April Wilder<\/a>,Calvin Haul<\/a>, Lance Larsen<\/a>, Joel Long<\/a>,Lynn Kilpatrick<\/a>,Phyllis Barber<\/a>, David Hawkins<\/a>,Nancy Takacs<\/a>,Mike Dorrell<\/a>,Susan Elizabeth Howe<\/a>, Star Coulbrooke<\/a>, Brad Roghaar,<\/a>Jerry Vanleperen<\/a>,Maximilian Werner<\/a>, Markay Brown<\/a>, Natalie Young<\/a>, Michael Sowder<\/a>, andDanielle Beazer Dubrasky<\/a>,\u00a0Kevin Holdsworth<\/a>,\u00a0Jacqueline Osherow<\/a>, Stephen Carter<\/a>,\u00a0Alex Caldiero<\/a>,\u00a0Stephen Tuttle<\/a>, Raphael Dagold<\/a>, David Lee<\/a>,\u00a0Lisa Bickmore<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>Kirstin Scott<\/a>,\u00a0Jesse Parent<\/a>,\u00a0Craig Dworkin<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>Laura Stott<\/a>\u00a0and Jana Richman<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

SUNDAY BLOG READ\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 we are featuring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1566,"featured_media":32852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,2513],"tags":[2842,2840,1301,2841],"class_list":["post-32849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-literary-arts","category-read-local-first","tag-exponent-ii","tag-melody-newey-johnson","tag-sunday-blog-read","tag-tiny-poem-tuesdays"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Melody-head-shot.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-26 16:36:06","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\/32849","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=32849"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35433,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32849\/revisions\/35433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}