Fans of the old Poetry Marathon at the Marine Museum take note: One of its former organizers, Dee Slavutin, East Hamptoner and poet herself, is back at it, making the rounds this summer giving readings from her new collection, “Suddenly Deciduous” (Finishing Line Press), first on Sunday afternoon at 2:30 at the Amagansett Library, and then at the East Hampton Library on Aug. 12 at 6 p.m.
“I take long walks on Gardiner’s Bay, the Atlantic Ocean, or,” when in the city, where she also lives, “in Riverside Park, where poems are always formulating,” she has said. “Then, with pencil, I scratch, peck, plant, mend, write, and rewrite until the story is told. I love the brevity of poetry, the fluidity and the completeness of the message.”
Below is “Today, I’ll Stay Still.”
This humidity is silk.
Keep it on my skin please.
No need to think past my breath.
I’ll stay still, as the deer in the wood
listens for an inkling sound
with only a twitch of her ear,
but does not dart.
Not a muscle of mine will move.
A slow turtle can get run over.
A speeding car can swerve.
What are my chances?
It’s good to be slow sometimes.
Today, I’m not in a hurry.
Neither are the bees
who, like me, work for a living.
If the phone rings, I won’t answer.
I’m not here now.
I’m with that deer
watching a bee nap on a stamen.