A Snail’s Life

As I wait for the traffic light to change

I think of you and the weight of this shell 

digs into my back. I make up my mind

to hit the gas through this intersection 

but when the light turns green my exhaust  

turns to slime and my tires slip and slide;

a silver trail desiccates behind me.

Riding my back always, this heavy house

of brittle walls brims over with tender looks

and touch, the color nude. I wish I could 

smash this carpet bag of residual flesh, 

expose the soft and supple to the sun, 

pour salt on promises hanging so thick 

the air turns to slime and I can’t breathe

or keep up with this life I’ve built without you 

so I’m always slipping, catching myself.  

Seattle, WA

April 10, 2014

"A Snail's Life" was first published in Miller's Pond Poetry Magazine. Fall 2014. Online. http://www.millerspondpoetry.com/index.php/issues/web_editions1

"Reading in the Red" video

Here's (most of) my portion of the poetry reading that my writing group put on at "In the Red Wine Bar" in Phinney Ridge (Seattle, WA) on July 20th, 2014. If you couldn't make it, give this seven-minute video a listen!

"Reading in the Red" - Upcoming Poetry Reading in Seattle on July 20th

Upcoming Poetry Reading in Seattle

The poets, including myself, who were involved in last year's National Poetry Month Initiative, "Pulitzer Remixer," will be reading from their collections in Seattle on February 28th, 2014, in conjunction with the AWP Conference. This will be my first poetry reading in Seattle!

Crashing Alone

Lightning struck like severed veins

and threw him crashing alone.

He lay on a funeral mound 

of pictures, forgotten board games.

Men murmured in the oak floor, 

women through pipes around the room.

Voices widened cracks into gaps.

A breeze blew through; the plaster sank

exhausted, crushing his ghost house.

Note: A found poem. Source: Harding, Paul. Tinkers. New York: Bellevue Literary Press, 2010. Print.

"Crashing Alone" was first published in Luciferous.  Jan. 2014. Online.

http://luciferouszine.blogspot.com/2014/01/crashing-alone-by-caroline-n-simpson.html?zx=91bfac66f08d2f36

"The Modigliani Daughter" performed at an Open Mic Night

Children, Church & Daddies, the magazine that published my poem, "The Modigliani Daughter," read it aloud at an open mic night in Chicago last weekend. You can watch it on youtube at this link.  Mine is the first one read after the intro.  It's neat to hear someone else read it aloud!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7OX1Suq_LU&feature=youtu.be

The Fortune Cookie

He didn’t know there was a fortune

Inside the cookie

His stomach busy coding the message

Eating away at the letters

Into an unreadable form

To know his fate was clearly stated

In his hands just minutes earlier

Is maddening

What choice does he have now

But to live in the moment

As if his fate was never determined

The truth lying deep in his gut.

Published in Ascent Aspirations. October 2013. Online
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/thefortunecookie.htm,
and first published in Bear Creek Haiku. June 2013. Print.