Tracey Knapp

cantfindit

Tracey Knapp is a poet living in Berkeley, CA. She works in communications and graphic design. Knapp's first full-length collection of poems, Mouth, was published by 42 Miles Press. Tracey has received awards and scholarships from La Romita School of Art in Terni, Italy, the Tin House Writers’ Workshop, and the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fund. Her work has been anthologized in Best New Poets, The Cento: A Collection of Collage Poems, and has appeared in Poetry Daily, Rattle, Five Points, The Hampden Sydney Poetry Review, San Diego Poetry Annual and elsewhere. ​She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and has work forthcoming in the anthology Sh!t Men Say to Me: A Poetry Anthology in Response to Toxic Masculinity.  Tracey holds a Masters in poetry from Boston University, a Masters in English from Ohio University, and a BFA in Studio Arts from Syracuse University. While at Syracuse, Tracey collaborated with bookmaker Michael Russem and artist Kurt Gohde to create a limited edition book of 7 poems with corresponding "smoke drawings", Match in a Bottle. The book sold out immediately and earned critical acclaim across the niche art book community. It's currently archived in many private and public library collections around the world. Source

Bad Mood, Baker Beach

Just told some dude with a poodle to fuck off.

 

My pound mutt humped his puppy’s ass.

 

He pretends to call the cops. No answer and I knew it.

 

Bigger problems in this town.

 

I will never understand the appeal of anger. 

 

So bored. Weather exhausts me. You call this winter?

 

I’ll show you winter. Tea kettle spilled over door locks.

 

Hot shovel from the wood stove. Ashes, pitfall.

 

The water here is always bitter cold. 

 

Big tease. Did I mention I am allergic to wet suits?

 

So much for surfing. Might as well move back East, 

 

land of snow and warm summer water. Might be better 

 

than sitting on a cold beach, staring at a red bridge

 

they never stop painting. What’s the point?  All of this beauty

 

everywhere. So stupid. My wet dog licks my cheek, shakes

 

out the water from his fur all over me. 

 

Dumb sun, set already. This sucks. Sand in my socks.

 

I will never be happy.

Published:

2015

Length:

Regular

Literary Movements:

Contemporary

Anthology Years:

Themes:

Doubt & Fear

Humor & Satire

Poems of Place

Literary Devices:

Alliteration

the repetition of the same letter or sound at the beginning of words appearing in succession

Hyperbole

exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally

Irony

the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect

Rhetorical Question

a question asked for effect, not necessarily to be answered