Darlene Young

For My Husband, Who Doesn’t Worry

While you sleep with abandon, I quiverbeside you, what ifs crawling my skin.You, warm beside me: liquidstillness. You toil not, neither do you spin. I wishI could ladle you over me, rub youinto the creases…

Fierce Passage

Enjoy this poem in audio version here. Today while researching ancestors, sifting through nested petalsof records for names that belong to me, peoplewho’ve left their bloody signatures in my genes, I found Melissa, some sixth…

A Good Sick Girl Never Gives Up

Enjoy this poem in audio version here. A good sick girl would never give up.She pushes on in search of a cure,working as if all depended on her.“Not knowing beforehand” what she should do,she moves…

Hippocrates

Enjoy this poem in audio version here. The doctor calls her sweetheart when she criesat hearing there is nothing he can find.He pats her back but will not meet her eyes. He doesn’t really mean…

Migraine Suite

Enjoy this poem in audio version here. Prelude Something is not right.      A haunting quaver to the world. Your mind  feels viscous, your body      watery. The lights have dimmed. The sense      of the smell  of ozone. AllemandeA greasy fingerprint on…

My Body in the Temple

Listen the Out Loud version of this poem here. Halfway through the session, I become awareof a full bladder and nothing else.All that is holy is eclipsedby flesh. I pant in claustrophobiabetween the lady who…

Review: “Twisted Apples”: Lance Larsen Takes on Prose Poetry Lance Larsen. What the Body Knows

Echo of Boy

Washing Mother

I return for the washing. 
Can’t resist your need, 
Or else I want to atone 
For leaving so eagerly 
Without glancing back, 
Back when you were whole and lively
And wanting to hold me tight. 

Patriarchal Blessing

The boy, sixteen, is taller than his mother, taller than
the creaky man with shining eyes and trembling hands. 

To My Teacher

You light between tall trees, never trip 
on roots—and yet leave heavy footprints. 
Bounding toward the surf, you pause for me: 
together we will touch the sacred. 

Balancing Faith and Honesty | Segullah: Writings by Latter-day Saint Women

I have long bemoaned what I felt was an empty niche in LDS publishing—that is, a publication that is absolutely committed to upholding the doctrines and leadership of the Church but is also equally committed to exploring all aspects of living a life of faith, including its difficulties, without any sugar-coating. I wanted something that avoided both shallowness and cynicism. I’m excited about the possibilities of a new LDS women’s literary journal, Segullah, which I believe is filling that niche. With its casual, intimate tone, Segullah appeals to women of all levels of education, but its articles and poetry are thoughtful and well written without sentimentality and pat answers.