Ah. Sweet surrender. That’s a phrase.
That’s the name of a bakery. Probably several bakeries in the world, actually. But is surrender so sweet? Oh…subtext. Ok.
I’ve never literally waved a white flag. That is not a thing that has happened. I’ve never tied a table cloth or an oxford shirt or underthings to some sort of makeshift shaft of flagpole and flapped a plead of peace in the air. Who does this anymore outside of kids who make forts? But I have felt that shade come down over my eyes, that moment when whatever scrap of white you want to imagine lolls like a ghost-tongue heavy over your head, and you just can’t take it anymore. Fall to your knees. Even if you’re not standing. That’s surrender.
And that’s the evocation present in the new collection from local poet Ellen Birkett Morris. Leave your laundry at home (please), but join her tomorrow night, Friday, November 16th, as she presents her new poetry volume, Surrender, at Carmichael’s Bookstore.
The recipient of several grants, including honors from the Elizabeth George Foundation, the Kentucky Foundation for Women and the Kentucky Arts Council, Louisville writer Ellen Birkett Morris produces acclaimed works of poetry, fiction and short plays. Joining work featured in the pages of Thin Air Magazine, Clackamas Literary Review, Juked, Inscape and Gastronomica, her first collection of poetry, Surrender, illustrates the raw emotions of love and loss. Morris will be on hand at the Frankfort Avenue location of Carmichael’s Bookstore tomorrow starting at 7pm to read selections from the new release and pen some signatures.
Love, loss, surrender. Yes. These are things that happen whether or not you have anything to tie to a stick, whether you have anything at all. I’m not going to go too much further with this, kids, I’m just not. But I still love you, ok. And that’s something you can hold on to for me and we’ll save it for later. Thinly-veiled pain is thinly-veiled. Ok.
Carmichael’s Bookstore has two area locations: 1295 Bardstown Road and 2720 Frankfort Avenue. For more information, visit the event page or call the Frankfort Avenue store at (502) 896-6950.
Image: Courtesy of Carmichael’s Bookstore website www.carmichaelsbookstore.com
