Paula J. Lambert
COMING THIS SPRING FROM SHEILA-NA-GIG EDITIONS
As If This Did Not Happen Every Day
ISBN: 978-1-962405-03-4 $16.00 (Free US Shipping)
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Paula J. Lambert is a literary and visual artist from Ohio. Her full-length poetry collections include The Ghost of Every Feathered Thing (FutureCycle 2022); How to See the World, a finalist in the 2021 Ohioana Book Awards (Bottom Dog 2020); and The Sudden Seduction of Gravity (Full/Crescent 2012). She has also authored several chapbooks and is a literary translator. Awarded the 2021 PEN America – L’Engle Rahman Prize for Mentorship, Lambert’s work has been supported by the Ohio Arts Council, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. She is the 2023 winner of the Slippery Elm Poetry Prize and the New England Poetry Club’s Amy Lowell Prize, was awarded a 2021 Editor’s Choice Award from Sheila-Na-Gig Online, and was the 2019 winner of the Heartland Broadside Series. Lambert owns Full/Crescent Press, a small publisher of poetry books and broadsides, through which she has founded and supported numerous public readings and festivals that support the intersection of poetry and science, including the Sun & Moon Festival now hosted by the Ohio Poetry Association. She lives in Columbus with her husband, Dr. Michael Perkins, a philosopher and technologist. More at http://www.paulajlambert.com.
An Ideation of Birds
I. Mourning Dove: Tucson, 2001
Diamondbacks vs. Giants
The perfect death, oh holy death,
explosion of stars blown from the body—
no matter the corpse raised and ridiculed
on its removal.
Feathers fell like snow.
II. Barn Swallow: Ft. Wayne, 2014
Tin Caps vs. Whitecaps
The dull thud,
the confused crowd,
the silent retrieval.
III. Ring-billed Gull, Toronto, 1983
Blue Jays vs. Yankees
For three innings, the sick bird tottered
on the field. The ball bounced once,
hit him in the neck, bruised his brain.
He hemorrhaged. And it was merciful.
The towel they covered him with?
A shroud. Call it a shroud.
IV. Mourning Dove, New York City, 1987
Giants vs. Mets
Fly ball.
Sun in the left-fielder’s eyes.
All of a sudden, he said,
two objects, falling.
Diamondbacks vs. Athletics
Off-day pitching. A curveball
caught on camera. No fireworks
of feathers, this time. No fanfare.
The bird they said, mid-flight,
simply fell to the ground.
VI. Species unidentified, Cleveland, 2023
Guardians vs. White Sox
A hard grounder, they said. The bird
who’d wandered onto the infield grass
went flying. The batter, standing at first,
clutched his helmet and grimaced.
Next day, he hit a home run.
Rounding the bases and passing third,
he raised his palms, hooked his thumbs
and, fingers fluttering, paid tribute,
hands, just briefly, become bird.
