April 11~ AMANDA HAYDEN

SHINE poetry fans, today I'm pleased to bring you three beautifully crafted poems by Poet Laureate for Sinclair College (Dayton, Ohio), Amanda (Mandy) Hayden. Varied in both topic and form, these poems truly showcase her skills. Thank you, Mandy, for sharing your words with SHINE!

When You Said “No” to Seeing the David
(A Pantoum to my Cousin’s Ex)

When you said “no” to seeing the David
you missed his fervent magnetic pull of your psyche
to colossal, veined hands so human in God’s favor
dozens of incomplete creations wrestling to be freed

you missed his fervent magnetic pull of your psyche
three years’ gestation reveal from one marble block
dozens of incomplete creations wrestling to be freed
artists before tried, failed, declared it insufferable

three years’ gestation reveal from one marble block
Firenze brick by brick barrier for three years of war
artists before tried, failed, declared it insufferable
like you, who could not be trusted to any wonder

Firenze brick by brick barrier for three years of war
to colossal, veined hands so human in God’s favor
like you, who could not be trusted to any wonder
when you said “no” to seeing the David

Old Men Don’t Cry (Song of Arranmore)
after Jerry Early’s “I’ll Go”

North-northwest pounding snow
sleet-smacked drizzled slige
bending bright red painted flowers
dotting seashore’s saltwater veins
thick tongued island men
did what must be done
eight said, I’ll go, stepped forthright
for eighteen sailors stranded by storm
muscling waves cliff high, hunkering
black gales’ howling ice spit, sharpened
into Donegal darts until twenty-six
were bow-brought, tales of survival
beaded for lighthouse wampum, spirits
lingering low tide, foothold fracture, jut of joint
they said back then old men don’t cry
until their grandchildren sing of Arranmore,
briny ballads of blood born sea
marine melodies of bone mist sky

Do You Dream in Color?

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Amanda Hayden's debut collection, American Saunter, released 2024 (FlowerSong Press). Her chapbook, How to Tie Tobacco, and second collection, Old World Wings, will release in 2025 (Wild Ink Publishing). A Pushcart Prize nominee and the 2023 River Heron Editor's Choice Prize winner, she lives in Ohio with her family and many rescue babies.