By: Ute Carson

Life-Giving Mana

Breath in the steam
from the empty cup between us,
porcelaine-made, blue, gold-rimmed.
Toss in your questions,
not tea leaves,
and let silence brew
into answers.
Breathe easy, breathe freely,
then fill to the brim with red wine
and you are fully nourished.

Sterntaler

She yearned to be loved!
She bore her neighbor’s burdens,
was the good samaritan on the road,
opened her heart to the sorrows of strangers,
laid fragrant flowers at the feet of her love.
Only when she had nothing left to give,
had shared her last piece of bread,
disposed of her garments,
and stood naked,
exposed to the icy fingers of the night,
did stars fall from heaven
and clothe her in warmth.

Talent Show

Displaying one’s innate capacities is not vanity.
Reflecting a moon-lit face in a pond is not vanity.
Ideas pearling from a lively tongue is not vanity.
Reciting a handwritten poem is not vanity.
Kicking a ball straight into a net is not vanity.
Painting a blooming landscape is not vanity.
Composing love songs is not vanity.
The dancer is the dance,
the composer the music,
the poet the poem.
Creative powers are gifts offered to the world,
not vanity.

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  Ute Carson, a German-born writer from youth and an MA graduate in Comparative Literature from the University of Rochester, published her first prose piece in 1977. Colt Tailing, a 2004 novel, was a finalist for the Peter Taylor Book Award. Ute’s story “The Fall” won Outrider Press’s Grand Prize and appeared in its short story and poetry anthology, A Walk through My Garden, in 2007. Her second novel In Transit was published in 2008. Ute’s poetry was televised on the Spoken Word Showcase 2009-2011, Channel Austin.

Ute received the Ovidu- Bektore Literary Award 2018 from the Anticus Multicultural Association in Constanta, Romania. In 2018, she was nominated a second time for the Pushcart Prize by the Plain View Press. The author resides in Austin, Texas with her husband. They have three daughters, six grandchildren, and a clowder of cats.