Karen Paul Holmes Verse-Virtual 2016 April

April 2016

I came early to poetry and yet late—from age 12, I wrote in notebooks and didn’t show anyone except a few teachers here and there. About six years ago, a whole community of poets opened up when I attended a workshop in the Blue Ridge Mountains and joined a critique group. I became an open mic junkie and started hosting a monthly reading series with open mic. I love to write and have been a freelance business writer in Atlanta for years. Connecting with poetry communities helped me improve my work and gave me the courage to submit it. I have a full-length collection, Untying the Knot (Aldrich Press, 2014) and my poems appear in many journals and anthologies including Poetry East, Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, and Stone, River, Sky: An Anthology of Georgia Poems (Negative Capability Press, 2015). www.facebook.com/karenholmespoetry

Passive Sentence Poem

A passive sentence is often composed by a passive
person. It is written with a subject acted upon
by a verb, sort of like being assaulted.
A phantom subject is preferred by governments,

corporations and scientists: Written complaints
will be read and answered in three days.
It has been decided you are not eligible for benefits.
The solution was heated to boiling.

This idea was thought up by someone anonymous.
The similes were excavated one by one,
like grapefruit triangles with a serrated spoon.
Then, edits were marked by a red pencil.

This poem will be appreciated by people
who don’t like action or responsibility.
This poem will be satisfying to few
because its conclusion was eaten by the dog.

First appeared in a slightly different version in Kentucky Review, March 2014