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Paris Tate

Updated: Mon, 4 Feb 2019 01:29 am

https://www.instagram.com/paris0689/

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Biography

From New Orleans, Louisiana, Paris Tate is the author of the poetry collection titled "All the Words in Between." Her poetry has also appeared in The Literary Yard, Contraposition, Maple Leaf Rag, The New Guard, and Live Mag! Magazine. Paris Tate currently lives in New Orleans with her husband, where she works as a librarian and attends the weekly poetry readings and open mic at the local Maple Leaf Bar.

Samples

It all happens quickly, the way our bodies fold, warm up to the concept of a morning rush. We forget sleep in the shower; we contemplate coffee on the balcony, then tie our shoelaces inside thoughtless motions. And melancholy keeps me from swearing at the bad drivers in the concrete storm, and that is the little difference between us. It’s day 28 of the government shutdown– someone at work doesn’t even look away from the computer; an email tells us what subjects are too heavy for our office stomachs. A co-worker flips through a cookbook: “I can do this, but I would add more ginger.” This is silence as everything changes. At 5 pm., we still ask the other: how was work today? We shrug as I spoon garlic on oil and wait for the aroma. The sleepiness starts again when I hear the serious tone of a news anchor voice, the early sunset, in the background. The shutdown won’t end today, or tomorrow– how will this end is my question to you, or to no one. We don’t have immediate answers, so I stir as your head rests on my shoulders. How fast, I remember why there’s melancholy …how fast.

All poems are copyright of the originating author. Permission must be obtained before using or performing others' poems.

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Comments

elPintor

Thu 14th Feb 2019 03:39

..speaking up as a mostly silent admirer of your writing--I've no doubt there are many more, too.

Rachel

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Greg Freeman

Mon 4th Feb 2019 10:05

Wonderfully evocative poem, Paris. Could just have easily appeared in our regular American Life in Poetry feature as here.

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