Flagstaff-based writer Andy Francis is the featured writer for the latest installment of KNAU’s series PoetrySnaps.in her poem when your head is too lowFrancis weaves landscape, sadness, and love for a brother he hasn’t seen in years. Located on Gates Pass in the Tucson Mountains. Anyone who has been there knows that this is a truly sublime place to watch the sunset.
Andy Francis:
This work was written in my MFA program. I was a master’s student at the University of Arizona, and I used to frequent Gates Pass, a lookout point in Tucson. I know there are some hiking trails there. But it’s a really nice place to be overlooked from the windy road and a beautiful place to watch the sunset.
So this was inspired by my experience when I went out to Gates Pass. It started with ‘place’ and just thought of ‘place’, especially the desert. I was also thinking about “myth”. At that time, his older brother… saw him for the first time in a long time. He was estranged from our family. So I took his brother seriously as the central figure in my life. I wanted to write my brother in this work.
I was also in love, so I was thinking about love. So ideas of love, loss, desert, place, despair and desire were prevalent. So there were all these really big ideas that I was trying to incorporate into the poem. That’s where you came from.
when your head is too low
I head straight for the canyon ledge.While I wait, I remember the truth
A donkey without a flock, how dangerous its ribs looked.
In mythological renditions, the sun and moon are sisters and brothers.i am my sister
Pulling out shallow roots, I say, can you see my tough side? His brother replied, “No.”
Too far away.
We need another real donkey to release this scene.please pay attention
A picture window of the cactus line right there.
Myths change, like I was saved by myths.the sun and moon are now
Lovers, and the moon is still covered with soot. There’s really nothing he can do.
I wish I was in my lover’s basement, purple and orange tighten the sky
Instead, he hangs paper stars from the ceiling, and we listen to them.
Repeat Woody Guthrie.
As long as I stand, I will stare at this sun belt buckle.
About the author:
Andy Francis is a Flagstaff-based poet and educator. Her work has been published in Berkeley Poetry Review, Greensboro Review and others.her poetry collection A fresh start propels you forward It was released last year. Francis is also the poetry editor for Carbon Copy and his DIAGRAM.
About the host:
Steven Law is the co-producer of KNAU’s series PoetrySnaps! He is a poet, essayist, storyteller and author of the following books: polished, A collection of poems about exploring the Colorado Plateau on foot or by raft.
About music:
Original song by a Flagstaff-based band pilcrow.
Poetry snap! Broadcast on the 1st and 3rd Fridays of every month.
