Author: Charlotte Hamrick

Charlotte Hamrick’s creative writing and photographs have been published in a number of literary journals and anthologies. Her debut prose chapbook, Offset Melodies, is included in Grieving Hope (ELJ Editions), a collection of five microchaps. She is Managing Editor for Reckon Review.
My Poetry, NaPoWriMo 20213 Comments

NaPoWriMo Day 20

Charlotte Hamrick

Everything is Temporary My grandmother had a blood red rose that twirled around a post on her front porch. There’s a picture of me standing next to it when my eyes were still fresh and she was in the kitchen cooking tiny butter beans just picked that morning by my grandfather’s hands. Thumbing through the old photo album I pause at that photo, remember how my dad dug up the rose before the old house was sold, replanted it in my parents’ backyard. A few pages later there it is, twirling over my parents’ porch, now only a picture in … Continue reading NaPoWriMo Day 20

Cento, My Poetry, NaPoWriMo 20213 Comments

NaPoWriMo Day 19

Charlotte Hamrick

Cemetery Garden: A Cento In every room of my home, the candles had been pinched dark,(1) my mind spends much of its time reliving finished conversations. (2) I think perhaps an apple is the universe and your body is an orchard full of trees, (3) the bitter taste of half a life. What if you weren’t afraid? (4) Which shadow glittered, which shadow dimmed? I learned not to regret. (5) You strangle on the sweet air, leave little ghosts of scent behind you. You will lean to the earth alone. (6) ***** Sources: (Numbered after the line quoted) (1) Mary … Continue reading NaPoWriMo Day 19

My Poetry, NaPoWriMo 20216 Comments

NaPoWriMo Day 18

Charlotte Hamrick

Simple Things Give Me Pause When the milk curdles in my coffee I make tea instead. It’s warm amber slips down my throat like mamma tucking in my sleeping body. Pink and blue china flowers fit perfectly in my palm, dance ring-around-the-rosy in my memory of forgotten voices heard only in dreams, blurry faces tied to paper and glue. For now, only cookies are missing in my reminiscent tableau. In my pantry flour, sugar, pecans wait in vain for absent hands. * Prompt via The Wombwell Rainbow Art by Kerfe Roig Continue reading NaPoWriMo Day 18

My Poetry, NaPoWriMo 20214 Comments

Napowrimo Day 17

Charlotte Hamrick

When the moon hits your eye you grab my arm to hold me still, saying I Won’t let you go —- and I turn faster than a deer out-running a bullet, grab your shirt under your chin, thrust my face into yours, say Oh, yeah? Then moonlight fell on us like holy raiments and I don’t know how it’s possible but it happened, we electric like a thunderstorm turned human one minute then bathed in milky luminous lust the next, the anger draining down our bodies soaking floorboards leaving ghostly footprints of rising steam that dissipate in the moonlight as … Continue reading Napowrimo Day 17

Found Poetry, My Poetry, NaPoWriMo 2021, Newspaper Blackout6 Comments

NaPoWriMo Day 15

Charlotte Hamrick

Neither Fully Land or Fully Sea Shell-inlaid shrines Rich wetlands gone polluted, paved Sneakers and iPhones walk surreal and dangerous Wave buffeted plastic eat the beach Picture a shuttered ecosystem A catalog of loss Shells growing scarcer the sacred buried the beloved plumbed * This poem is an erasure poem but my printer is acting up so I’m unable to post the actual pages. The source is an online article in Hakai Magazine titled “The Symbolic Seashell” by Krista Langlois, pages 11-13. The title also comes from the text. I highly recommend reading it for a fascinating look at the … Continue reading NaPoWriMo Day 15

My Poetry, NaPoWriMo 20212 Comments

NaPoWriMo Day 12

Charlotte Hamrick

Froth & Feathers Remember how the mist fell, a veil floating from the sky’s crown, the sea reaching up, up, up – a meeting of waters? You said There is no horizon, no distance, only the here and now. And it was true, the sea and the air mingling, salt and oxygen drifting into our faces as we watched under our tent, the canvas billowing like lungs after a hard run. A deserted beach save for scuttling hermit crabs, frothy waves fingering the shoreline, and mournful echoes of sea birds, ghostly bits of ectoplasm winging by. Time stood still for … Continue reading NaPoWriMo Day 12

Haiku, My Poetry, NaPoWriMo 20213 Comments

NaPoWriMo Day 10

Charlotte Hamrick

Palm tree trembles and sways beats wild music near my window while I clutch my quilt to my chin * I didn’t follow a prompt today because I’ve been busy with other things. We had storms last night into the early morning. I was awakened at 5:30 by a very high wind that was thrashing the palm tree outside my window. Hence, my haiku-like verse today. The two palms in the photo were blowing on this day, too, but not like the one outside my bedroom window. Happy Saturday, all! Continue reading NaPoWriMo Day 10

My Poetry, NaPoWriMo 20217 Comments

NaPoWriMo Day 9

Charlotte Hamrick

Jazz Club 1928 She surprises him taking the stage her slender fingers skipping over the keys little birds frolicking in springtime She pumps the petal like a trucker on a long distance haul, committed Her long legs daring convention in chiffon trousers, beaded bodice flashing danger & delight with every move He gazes down as she plays this woman, this wonder, in this moment he knows he will never possess her * Prompt via The Wombwell Rainbow Art by Kerfe Roig Continue reading NaPoWriMo Day 9

My Poetry, NaPoWriMo 20214 Comments

NaPoWriMo Day 8

Charlotte Hamrick

It is what it is Years flow together waiting for a thing to begin. After creamy, spicy, salty mouthfuls were swallowed, the Avocado seed waited on the window sill in a glass of water, gestating. The parallels of our existence didn’t go unnoticed. Waiting was our life, waiting for our hormones to get things done, for a bit of matter to make itself known. Deep within us nothing moved while the world around us continued to turn. Other plants grew and greened, other children cried and crawled, but we stayed inwardly still, while outwardly in motion. One day, I let … Continue reading NaPoWriMo Day 8