BLOOD: POEMS BY KRISTIN LATOUR

Blood is my latest collaboration with Aurora poet Kristin LaTour. It has been my pleasure to work with her to bring this collection of poetry together, and I look forward to publishing it some time next month. Kristin is a member of the Waiting 4 The Bus Poetry Collective, and I have enjoyed performing with her and watching her think. Working on this project has given me renewed appreciation for Kristin's artistry, and I look forward to more collaborations like this.

Autumn Todd Photography

Kristin demonstrates a keen grasp of intimacy, skillfully making use of perspective in order to enlist the empathy of her readers and audiences in an unflinching series of voyeuristic glances. These are claustrophobic glances into uncomfortable corners, where most of us would simply look the other way.

Imagine the tiny
dollop
of air inside
a soap bubble

floating
around a backyard
barbecue
struggling against
its own demise

pushing and
pulling
against fate

a thin soapy
membrane
holding oceans of
air at bay
uniquely alive

for just a moment
of silky
indulgence
too good to last

listen for the
brief
calamity of rushing air
momentary spasm
echoing

across the face of the universe
you will hear
the voice
of Kristin LaTour.

© 2009 Matthew S. Barton

There is a self evident quality to Blood, as if Kristin LaTour has simply pulled back a curtain on the pain and suffering that are the subtext of our own lives, inviting us to see it with new eyes. Given the subject matter, the imagery is spare and remarkably restrained, refusing to indulge the gluttonous appetites of our cynical blood-soaked imaginations. Instead, we are invited to set aside our conditioned responses to blood in order to take a closer look. Perhaps a more considerate, more compassionate look, without looking the other way.