{"id":35884,"date":"2017-04-16T11:15:10","date_gmt":"2017-04-16T17:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=35884"},"modified":"2018-09-22T21:25:57","modified_gmt":"2018-09-23T03:25:57","slug":"read-local-first-natasha-saje","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/read-local-first-natasha-saje\/","title":{"rendered":"READ LOCAL First: Natasha Saj\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>READ LOCAL SUNDAY\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>is your glimpse into the working minds and hearts of Utah\u2019s literary writers. 15 Bytes regularly offers works-in-progress and \/ or recently published work by some of the state\u2019s most celebrated and promising writers of fiction, poetry, literary nonfiction and memoir.<\/p>\n

Today we present Salt Lake City-based\u00a0Natasha Saj\u00e9<\/strong>, the author of three books of poems,\u00a0Red Under the Skin<\/i>\u00a0(Pittsburgh, 1994),\u00a0Bend\u00a0<\/i>(Tupelo, 2004),\u00a0Vivarium\u00a0<\/i>(Tupelo, 2014), and a poetry handbook,\u00a0Windows and Doors: A Poet Reads Literary Theory,\u00a0<\/i>(Michigan, 2014). Her honors include the Robert Winner and the Alice Fay di Castagnola Awards from the Poetry Society of America, the Campbell Corner Poetry Prize, a Fulbright Scholarship to Slovenia, and a Camargo Fellowship in France. Saj\u00e9 has been teaching in the low residency Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing Program since 1996, and is a professor of English at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, where she directs the Weeks Poetry Series.<\/span><\/p>\n

So . . . curl up with your favorite cup of joe and enjoy\u00a0Natasha Saj\u00e9<\/span>!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

a meeting<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Arches National Park<\/em><\/h4>\n

here\u00a0\u00a0 where the river flooded and wore
\nthrough Jurassic rock a channel<\/h4>\n

we reconsider\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0empty
\nfrom Old English\u00a0\u00a0aemettig<\/em>\u00a0 (at leisure)<\/h4>\n

the \u201cp\u201d a euphonic addition
\nlanguage and leisure filled<\/h4>\n

to help us make sense of our senses
\nas now when in red sand with a dusting of snow<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

I see the print of my boots
\nhear the thrum of salt thousands of feet thick<\/h4>\n

smell sunlight like carbonation in the air
\nempty of smog\u00a0\u00a0 replete with sharp stars<\/h4>\n

where the stream doesn\u2019t have to be here<\/h4>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 to be felt<\/h4>\n

will appear May 6 in the anthology:\u00a0Sand and Sky: Poems from Utah<\/em>\u00a0(Rumi Poetry Club 10th Anniversary Publication, 2017)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

frangipani<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Majorca 1977<\/em><\/h4>\n

waft of citrus from the little train
\nglobes shining from glossy dark green
\nroom with a view<\/h4>\n

each day down a stony path
\nknitted olive and almond trees
\nbells on goats
\nchime of churches
\nbuzz of honey bees<\/h4>\n

each day I walk to the tiny harbor
\nblue\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 so safe it felt to swim<\/h4>\n

no one I knew
\nknew where I was\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 no
\nkeys\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 no work\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 no plans<\/h4>\n

what did I do\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 with time<\/h4>\n

trudge along the hot road
\nwithout a hat\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 nothing
\nto read\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 sun rise on the boat\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 lonely<\/h4>\n

happy to be alone<\/h4>\n

sketch of a bullfight\u00a0\u00a0 the black pen
\ndidn\u2019t leave the paper
\nman and bull awash
\nyellow velvety color of frangipani<\/h4>\n

none grow here<\/h4>\n

in memory only\u00a0\u00a0 a heavenly scent
\nvanilla and orange mixed<\/h4>\n

tricks the sphinx moth
\ntricks me<\/h4>\n

leisure as shallow as the water below
\nunrooted bliss<\/h4>\n

(an earlier version published in\u00a0TAB: Journal of Poetry and Poetics)<\/em><\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

palliative<\/strong><\/h4>\n

from\u00a0pallium<\/em>
\nthe cloak that covers the body on its way to burial<\/h4>\n

a cloth of comfort<\/h4>\n

comfort once meant strong and now
\nmeans soft and easeful<\/h4>\n

as in morphine and mouth sponges
\nas in care
\nas in acquiring at the end<\/h4>\n

the cloak
\nfrom\u00a0clocca<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 bell-shaped<\/h4>\n

as when the world was quieter
\nand the sound of a bell
\ncould ring in an afterlife<\/h4>\n

I\u2019d like to begin anticipating
\nmy body as a sponge
\nfilled and wrung out again and again
\nby pain and the will to live<\/h4>\n

palliative\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 not from\u00a0pale
\n<\/em>as in beyond the
\nstaked vines on a fence dividing
\ngovernable from wild<\/h4>\n

known from unknown<\/h4>\n

(published December 2016 in\u00a0Under a Warm Green Linden<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

READ LOCAL SUNDAY\u00a0is your glimpse into the working minds and hearts of Utah\u2019s literary writers. 15 Bytes regularly offers works-in-progress and \/ or recently published work by some of the state\u2019s most celebrated and promising writers of fiction, poetry, literary nonfiction and memoir. Today we present Salt Lake […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1566,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,2513],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-literary-arts","category-read-local-first"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-22 22:11:41","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\/35884","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=35884"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38174,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35884\/revisions\/38174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}