Poetry Block: The Long Body that Connects Us All by Rich Marcello

Poetry Block is back, hip hip hooray!

If you missed out on the last edition, featuring Erin Geil, don't forget to skip over and check it out!

In this latest edition of Poetry Block, Rich Marcello is joining me to share an exclusive poem and let us know all the details about his new collection, The Long Body that Connects Us All.

--

Porchwork

You come home from work
with metal pieces in need of straightening,
the result of an earlier errant production run.
For ten dollars, I spend my Saturday
on the front porch running thousands
of bent rods, of scrapworks,
through a straightening machine

On occasion, I gaze outward
into the woods, aware
that my increasing sense
of accomplishment
mirrors the rise of the sun.
Finally, when it’s dusk,
you come to the porch
to see me, your nine-year-old son,
to offer payment, but it’s the warmth
on your face that stirs me the most

I know you’re proud of me
for sticking with the cogs
and crooked metal.

I know you love me.
I know I’ve somehow taken
a step toward you

Today, building a Lego set on the floor
with my son, I realize I’ve been trying
to duplicate that moment on the porch
over thirty years now, my entire work life

--

About The Long Body that Connects Us All

Provocative and profound, Rich Marcello's poems are compact but expansive, filled with music as seductive as their ideas, and focused mostly on how to be a good man. This is a collection of deep passion and wisdom for fathers, husbands, and sons, but also for mothers, wives, and daughters, many who began with a longing for the things they were taught to desire by their forefathers, only to later discover a different path, one lit by loss and welcoming of the vulnerable, one made of the long body that connects us all.

The Long Body that Connects Us All is available to buy now.

About Rich Marcello

Rich is a poet, an accomplished songwriter and musician, a creative writing teacher at Seven Bridges’ Writer Collaborative, and the author of three novels, The Color of Home, The Big Wide Calm, and The Beauty of the Fall, and the poetry collection, The Long Body That Connects Us All. Previously, he enjoyed a successful career as a technology executive, managing several multi-billion dollar businesses for Fortune 500 companies.

For Rich, writing and art-making are about connection, or as he says, about making a difference to a least one other person in the world, something he has clearly achieved many times over, both as an artist, a mentor, and a teacher. Rich lives in Massachusetts on a lake with his family and two Newfoundlands, Ani and Shaman. He is currently working on his fourth novel, The Latecomers.

If you want to keep up with Rich and his writing, check out his website.

Are you a poet and would like to be featured in the next edition of Poetry Block? Get in touch if you are interested!