As the 2010 Texas Poet Laureate, Karla K. Morton believes that poetry is everyone’s art, and has carved her place in Texas Letters with this stunning collection.With well-loved titles such as “For Love and Michelangelo,” “The Closer,” “Why God Needs a Shotgun,” “Alamo Coastline,” “Woman in the Pipe Shop,” and “When Texas No Longer Fits in the Glove Box,” Morton's poetry will take you on a journey; her flowing style sparks memories and stirs emotions. Here’s a short poem, inspired by a talk with her son, words of advice when he first fell in love:Don't Be Nervouswhen you see her.Don't worry aboutwhat you will say, orhow you will say it.Just look at her,and wonderhow your hand will fitin the small of her back;how many pins it takesto hold up her hair. . .It’s no wonder Morton has been called “one of the more adventurous voices in American poetry . . .” 

Karla K. Morton: New and Selected Poems (TCU Texas Poets Laureate Series)

Literature & Fiction

Morton, Karla K.

Poetry

TCU Press

Karla K. Morton’s Hometown, Texas is a collection of beautiful poems and artwork, created by high school and middle school students of small towns all over Texas and by Morton herself, making the collection very unique and intriguing. Each poem brings to life another piece of Texas that can easily be overlooked by those who do not quite understand why Texans are so passionate about their state. The 2010 Texas Poet Laureate hit the road in September 2009, traveling to middle and high schools across the state, showing students the importance of writing and asking them to create something beautiful that accurately represented their town. From grandma’s mustang jelly and Leddy’s custom boots to forgotten railroads in Haslet, Friday night football, and even Mexican pride, Morton and her newly discovered creative writers do not miss a thing about the beloved small towns of Texas. A great coffee table read, Hometown, Texas includes fabulous artwork drawn by talented students, giving a glimpse into the best of their hometowns. In this eclectic selection, the reader will easily turn page after page to learn a little something more about Texas from the Texan youth. The poetry is simple and authentic, allowing readers to fall in love with Texas all over again.

Hometown, Texas

Arts & Photography

History & Criticism

Poets Karla K. Morton and Alan Birkelbach began this journey to celebrate our national parks' one hundredth anniversary, but for these two poets the sojourns quickly became something greater than that. In their words, "As humans we have this tendency to look at a piece of land and see real estate. [But] when concrete covers all our natural spaces, not only do we lose earth's creatures, we also lose the great teacher of our souls. You cannot sit beneath trees taller than the Statue of Liberty, or gaze upon vistas untouched since their creation, without feeling the awe and wonder of what the natural world has to offer. You cannot experience such beauty without being wholly changed. Our great-great-great-grandchildren deserve these untouched gifts." This journey, illustrated with gorgeous color photos of all of America's grand national parks, is a feast for the eyes and heart. In the end, it is a plea for us to save these wonders for all future generations.

The National Parks: A Century of Grace

Birkelbach, Alan

Photography & Video

This collection, Morton’s tenth, is a bold book of poetry delving into risks. It’s the moving forward; the constant discovery of new things. Using a combination of quotes, mythological images, and exquisite metaphors from nature, Morton delivers poems that describe the absolute urgency of giving one’s heart over to life, the burning drive to have faith in the world, the insistence that everything, in its own way, is holy. This book is unfettered joy. Tending Fires I wanted to write a sonnet last night, because that’s what lovers do, but the fire needed tending, and all I could think of were your shoulders, and that’s not romantic, so I put on another log, and thought about that hot summer day underneath that oak, when our shoulders brushed, and I blushed at the nearness of you, and how we made love that night . . . still . . . that’s not what I wanted to write . . . But it’s you; you, my love. You are my night and my morning, and the hot coals beneath these logs . . . hear them hiss and whisper like cicadas―cicadas of the trees, and the summer, and of all things that burn.

Constant State of Leaping

Texas Review Press

This book features Morton's best work to date from her ten collections. While her poems range in style, topic and region, they capture each universal emotion, delving into our desire to know our place in this world; the reason for our very being. Her words are comfort and wonder and hope. She writes: This is a book of poems to swallow, to seep in your bloodstream/ and pound open the chamber doors/ of your own heart, reminding us of our huge capacity for love, guiding us through each tiny fold of synchronicity to discover the big picture--what it means to truly be alive. Time And where did the day go? A late Sunday of mingling legs, sermons of hawk and crow, a choir of mockingbird. Sitting outside, legs still reaching for one another, together; just words. The hours, dulcet and vaulting like dog years. These are the best unremarkable days of our life, when nothing happens but the bloom of tiny wildflowers, the kind you have to sink to your knees to see.

Accidental Origami: New and Selected Works of karla k. morton

Wooden Lions is the ultimate animal-lovers’ book, with each poem in this amazing collection cradling the soul of a creature. Morton’s poetry winds through our connection with the animal spirit, breathlessly binding us forever in their wisdom; their endless lifting up of humankind. This is a celebration of all beasts, reminding us to cherish all those who nurture us. A percentage of these book sales will be donated to animal shelters and facilities across the country.
The Lion. The Lioness
 Come to me.
 Come to me like the river’s roar,
 like ravens at the morning’s door.
 There’s no knock;
 no bronzed lion to pound and wake,
 just yawning dawns; the lush daybreaks
 opening
 like sunrise. I, your troubadour
 will sing across your kitchen floor;
 enough warmth
 to stay the dark; to overtake
 each fear, each tear the wicked make
 slip your cheeks.
 Let my arms be your sacred shore;
 may loneness haunt you nevermore.
 I, the flawed,
 give you my sovereign heart to take—
 each bounty, glory, each mistake
 forgiven;
 clasping hands through destiny’s door.
 Let us be fearless. Let us roar.

Wooden Lions: Poems

"This is one of my favorite collections of poetry so far—poetry pulled from the heart; poetry of life and love; a rebirth of spirit, of all the magic in life we thought we had lost along the way. This is a discovery of the beauty that lays in wait all around us—in every moment, in every being, in every living thing. This is poetry to open us back up; to give us permission to feel again; emotions deep and real and tangible, whether we name them or not."-Karla K. Morton, 2010 Texas Poet Laureate "We should have been prepared for this level of lyrical quality—just based on her Beastie book. But there’s no way we could have anticipated this level of passion, wisdom, and sensitivity. There is a subtext that runs through Karla’s work, an in-the-moment hunger, a realization that yes, all life is fleeting—but look how glorious and rich it can be. She knows how to name things, how to give the most common of items a special magic and meaning. Read the poem 'Charmer'. The images are all images we know and understand but in Karla’s hands they are transformed into something deeper, they turn into images that transcend the moment. That is what good poetry is supposed to do. And Karla’s poems do it—again and again and again."—Alan Birkelbach, 2005 Texas State Poet Laureate

Names We've Never Known: Poems

karla morton's poetry collection allows the waters of the Earth to speak first. Not only do they speak in their power and vulnerability, but in relationship to the humans that use and so often abuse them. This tells us the speaker of these poems is in close relationship to the natural world, especially water's lifegiving necessity in the dry Texas of the poet's childhood.

Turbulence & Fluids: poems

Madville Publishing, LLC

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Books by Morton, Karla K.