PORTICO

Bonnie Wehle grew up in Upstate New York and Tucson, Arizona. She is a graduate of Wellesley College (B.A.) and the University of Oregon (M.S.). She enjoys participating in poetry workshops and has attended several in the U.S. and Mexico. Bonnie’s work has been published in Heron Tree Literary Journal, River Heron Review, HerWords/Black Mountain Press, Valley Voices, Red Rock Review, Sky Islands Journal, Metaforología Gaceta Literaria, and elsewhere. In addition to poetry, hand-built ceramics have been a long-time interest. She and her dog, Tilllie, live in Tucson, Arizona, where Bonnie serves as a docent at the University of Arizona Poetry Center and facilitates a monthly poetry circle at the county library.

Ars Poetica

The bell
missing
its clapper
mute as a clap
by one hand
sounds
for those who
need no rope
to swing it.

The page
void
of words
as a newborn
grants voice
to those who
need no pen
to mark it.

The tree
in which
this morning
I failed
to see a finch
gifted me
a cardinal
instead.

Raven with words suggested by Poe’s “The Raven.”
Raven on globe inscribed, “What if ravens ruled the world?”
Rabbits with Mimbres designs.