Kay Mullen:
Kay is a native of Iowa. She earned an Advanced Poetry Writing Certificate in 1996 from the University of Washington. Her work has appeared in various journals including; The Antigonish Review, Appalachia, PoetsWest, Journal of Women Writing, Avocet and the recent Floating Bridge Press Anthology, Pontoon. Kay received first place in the 2002 William Stafford Award at the Washington Poets Association Conference in April. Let Morning Begin, her first book of poems, was published last fall by David Gawlik, Caritas Communications, Mequon,Wisconsin.
Kay received first place in the 2002 William Stafford Award given by the Washington Poets Association at the April Conference.
Excerpts from Let Morning Begin"Music Box"
...it is over and only beginning
with all you own in a paper sack...
ear medicine in a blue bottle,
jump suits worn at the seat,
tattered button-eyed bear,
toy music box to the tune 'It's a Small World".
...Now you speak for yourself
brave and unbroken, terror
of Vietnam fading... "August"
...under mounds of mockorange, water trickles.
Blue geese hide in clusters of cattails. They wait
for the sound of rain pocks on the rising pond,
heron wings, wind riffling through white pine.
Across the trail, rust branches remind
the hemlocks,
nothing lives forever.... "The Whister"
...As he nears the boxwood
lining our walk, silver slivers
of his lunch box flash with each step, coins
jingle in his pocket. I wonder who
will be waiting at home,
what heaves in the heart
of the whistler long after neighbors have gone
to bed, the sitllness, cicadas droning
as he fills the dark with a theme from Aida... Comments from Reviewers: "There is a light touch to Kay's poetry that cheers the heart, not a lightness that obscures the truth, but nevertheless gives a lift to our understanding if "we would patiently search." To me the search is as rewarding as the poem itself.....
Mary Luke Tobin, SL .... Kay Mullen's poetry approaches mystery the way a naturalist approaches an unidentifiable whish of wings, a distant song - intently coming close, almost close enough to touch - then stepping back, letting go of what can never be captured....
Christianne Balk .... demonstrating a deep appreciation for beauty and truth in nature, the author takes us into her glorious but often disorderly world with colorful imagery and a deep sensitivity toward complex human relationships which can both pain and sustain.....Kay Mullen's book is not for swift reading but, like fine wine, should be slowly sipped to bring out its full content and subtleties.
Dorothy Bonnes From the Author: Many of my poems focus on what I perceive in the world of nature, on significant persons from the past and present, on early years growing up in Iowa. Poetry is the way I tell my story, a story of love and joy, of grief and loss--life at the heart of what we are about as humans. For me, poetry has a healing component, should touch the human experience, and be shared. "Let Morning Begin" is available directly through the author, Kay Mullen or through Corpus
