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Christine enjoys giving readings and talks, conducting workshops and poetry circles, visiting book groups, and hearing from readers. She looks forward to your email.
Christine reading at Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea in
Ann Arbor, the Writers Reading at Sweetwaters series, co-hosted by Esther Hurwitz (pictured) and Chris Lord.
Contact Christine
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Upon Being Asked What I Believe In
after Dean Young I say, for starters, the word in,
the way it dumps quicksand before
love and trouble, or after belief
and jump right! I say the days I'm sunk
in up to my waist, improvising
with ingredients at hand. I say the sizzle
of bacon, onions, the wooden spoon
meandering through thick lentil soup
with basil. I say all the herbs in my garden,
pushing roots into earth. I say the Zen
of weeding, aches that follow. And how,
in Japan, they seat a guest facing away
from the most beautiful part of the room,
remember the person later as what's missing
from the art. I say my first slow dance,
the texture of polyester against my cheek,
those hit songs I wrote out, cataloged.
I say catalogs, glossy paper, the thrill
of promises, anticipation. I say afternoon naps,
dark chocolate, gin martinis. And wine,
the best I ever tasted from a styrofoam cup,
the nurse urging me to gulp it down
my second day of labor. I say my babies'
milk-drunk faces. And my teenage sons,
the way they answer me in French, pleased
that I can't understand. I almost talk about being
the only woman in the house. I say, whatever
Lisa Simpson believes in. And, yes, the saxophone.
I say music from unexpected sources,
the younger me sent to test cars
in 30-below Fairbanks, how I let a local
drive me away from town one midnight for a chance
at the aurora borealis, how I shivered
from the colors. I say the starkness of snow
on a wheat field or in the backyard, deep drifts
obscuring the picnic table, my tears. I say the weight
of twilight, moonrise, voices that drift
through the living room: Louis Armstrong,
Eudora Welty, my husband offering
to warm my feet. I say sharing the thermostat
and the covers and the Sunday Times. I say the pulse
of algebra, all those x's busy intersecting
all those y's, points aligned. I say the tangle
of science and poetry, earthworm
and wormhole, the tunneling mind. And the wild
flight of fireflies, bodies glowing
from both desire and defense.
Christine Rhein Christine Rhein, “Upon Being Asked What I Believe In” from Wild Flight. Copyright © 2008 by Christine Rhein. Used by permission of Texas Tech University Press.
Other Past Appearances Include:
Ann Arbor Book Festival (2008)The Brighton District Library (2008, 2004)The Detroit Scarab Club (2008, 2007)The Detroit Opera House (2007, 2004, 2002)Crazy Wisdom Bookstore, Ann Arbor (2007)Birmingham Bloomfield Arts Center (2005)The Bloomfield Hills Library (2004)Order Wild Flight Now
Your Favorite Local Bookstore
If you would like to order a signed copy via
mail, please email Christine for information.
From Wild Flight:
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