Poems by Julie Ezelle Patton

“thus far” swigs
                   owe woe
                   (w/o N-
                     o
                     r
                     d.   figures
(w/ latitude)
Swing leash jaw
bond on bond paper
                    caper
                    peeps  th’
                              em
Taken for grant’d
                    flee fly flow—Nickle
                    or your thoughts
Finally made it (y/our life
Taking leave
                    of a blue pageant
Capsized by tears
Fist to arrive
Slapping the waves
teeter-totter
                    into flesh
Cold drink
                    buy
Pool of
                    blood
Clutch
Pearls and write wronged letters
                    (don’t give a dime)
                    Slipping tongue
                     in hand
shOut N
                    ward 1 to
                    money many
                    O me (you too)
See? Fair
                    (or knot
Fib
                    a nautical tale
Fin’
                   (no end in f[l]ight
 
 

Julie Ezelle-Patton’s most recent title is The Flower Poem (Tender Buttons, 2024).  J Walking thru the Alphabet, an edited selection of Patton’s concrete, visual, and textual poetics from the 1970s to the near present is forthcoming from Nightboat Books, Fall, 2025. The recently released Chicago Review (Vol. 67), ARKiTEXT,  focuses on Let It Bee, her "poetic conceit" of transforming a 1913 Rustbelt brownstone into a living archive of work created by Depression-era artists Russell Atkins, Clifton Clay, Virgie Patton, Theresa Ramey, among others.

Patton's “in-the-moment” poetries bridge musical, visual, and literary worlds. A recipient of an Acker Award, Denniston Hill Residency, a Doan Brook Watershed Hero Award, and a Foundation for Contemporary Art Poetry Award, Patton divides her time between New York City & the rest of theWoerld.  Her noted Womb Room Tomb Installation was featured in the 2018 Front International Triennial to great acclaim.

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