{"id":709,"date":"2024-02-19T13:56:35","date_gmt":"2024-02-19T19:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/?post_type=product&#038;p=709"},"modified":"2025-09-05T12:18:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T17:18:42","slug":"corn-goddess","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/product\/corn-goddess","title":{"rendered":"Corn Goddess"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>by\u00a0Stephanie Dickinson<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<style>\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t#tab_container_707 {\r\n\toverflow:hidden;\r\n\tdisplay:block;\r\n\twidth:100%;\r\n\tborder:0px solid #ddd;\r\n\tmargin-bottom:30px;\r\n\t}\r\n\r\n#tab_container_707 .tab-content{\r\n\tpadding:20px;\r\n\tborder: 1px solid #e6e2cc !important;\r\n\tmargin-top: 0px;\r\n\tbackground-color:#fffbe5 !important;\r\n\tcolor: #000000 !important;\r\n\tfont-size:16px !important;\r\n\tfont-family: Open Sans !important;\r\n\t\r\n\t\tborder: 1px solid #e6e2cc !important;\r\n\t}\r\n#tab_container_707 .wpsm_nav-tabs {\r\n    border-bottom: 0px solid #ddd;\r\n}\r\n#tab_container_707 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li.active > a, #tab_container_707 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li.active > a:hover, #tab_container_707 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li.active > a:focus {\r\n\tcolor: #000000 !important;\r\n\tcursor: default;\r\n\tbackground-color: #fffbe5 !important;\r\n\tborder: 1px solid #e6e2cc !important;\r\n}\r\n\r\n#tab_container_707 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li > a {\r\n    margin-right: 0px !important; \r\n    line-height: 1.42857143 !important;\r\n    border: 1px solid #ece8d2 !important;\r\n    border-radius: 0px 0px 0 0 !important; \r\n\tbackground-color: #fffbe5 !important;\r\n\tcolor: #000000 !important;\r\n\tpadding: 15px 18px 15px 18px !important;\r\n\ttext-decoration: none !important;\r\n\tfont-size: 14px !important;\r\n\ttext-align:center !important;\r\n\tfont-family: Open Sans !important;\r\n}\r\n#tab_container_707 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li > a:focus {\r\noutline: 0px !important;\r\n}\r\n\r\n#tab_container_707 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li > a:before {\r\n\tdisplay:none !important;\r\n}\r\n#tab_container_707 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li > a:after {\r\n\tdisplay:none !important ;\r\n}\r\n#tab_container_707 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li{\r\npadding:0px !important ;\r\nmargin:0px;\r\n}\r\n\r\n#tab_container_707 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li > a:hover , #tab_container_707 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li > a:focus {\r\n    color: #000000 !important;\r\n    background-color: #fffbe5 !important;\r\n\tborder: 1px solid #ece8d2 !important;\r\n\t\r\n}\r\n#tab_container_707 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li > a .fa{\r\n\r\nmargin-right:5px !important;\r\n\r\nmargin-left:5px !important;\r\n\r\n\r\n}\r\n\r\n\t\t#tab_container_707 .wpsm_nav-tabs a{\r\n\t\t\tbackground-image: none;\r\n\t\t\tbackground-position: 0 0;\r\n\t\t\tbackground-repeat: repeat-x;\r\n\t\t}\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\r\n#tab_container_707 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li {\r\n    float: left;\r\n    margin-bottom: -1px !important;\r\n\tmargin-right:0px !important; \r\n}\r\n\r\n\r\n#tab_container_707 .tab-content{\r\noverflow:hidden !important;\r\n}\r\n\r\n\r\n@media (min-width: 769px) {\r\n\r\n\t#tab_container_707 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li{\r\n\t\tfloat:left !important ;\r\n\t\t\t\tmargin-right:-1px !important;\r\n\t\t\t\t\t}\r\n\t#tab_container_707 .wpsm_nav-tabs{\r\n\t\tfloat:none !important;\r\n\t\tmargin:0px !important;\r\n\t}\r\n\r\n\t#tab_container_707 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li {\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t}\r\n\t#tab_container_707 .wpsm_nav{\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\r\n}\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n@media (max-width: 768px) {\r\n\t#tab_container_707 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li {\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t}\r\n\t#tab_container_707 .wpsm_nav{\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n}\r\n\r\n\r\n\t.wpsm_nav-tabs li:before{\r\n\t\tdisplay:none !important;\r\n\t}\r\n\r\n\t@media (max-width: 768px) {\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t.wpsm_nav-tabs{\r\n\t\t\tmargin-left:0px !important;\r\n\t\t\tmargin-right:0px !important; \r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t}\r\n\t\t\t\t#tab_container_707 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li{\r\n\t\t\tfloat:none !important;\r\n\t\t}\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t}\t\t\t\t<\/style>\r\n\t\t\t\t<div id=\"tab_container_707\" >\r\n\t \r\n\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"wpsm_nav wpsm_nav-tabs\" role=\"tablist\" id=\"myTab_707\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li role=\"presentation\"  class=\"active\"  onclick=\"do_resize()\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#tabs_desc_707_1\" aria-controls=\"tabs_desc_707_1\" role=\"tab\" data-toggle=\"tab\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Overview<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li role=\"presentation\"  onclick=\"do_resize()\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#tabs_desc_707_2\" aria-controls=\"tabs_desc_707_2\" role=\"tab\" data-toggle=\"tab\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Excerpts<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/ul>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t  <!-- Tab panes -->\r\n\t\t\t\t\t  <div class=\"tab-content\" id=\"tab-content_707\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div role=\"tabpanel\" class=\"tab-pane  in active \" id=\"tabs_desc_707_1\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"sm_text\" style=\"text-align: left\">Corn Goddess speaks to the sacred teenage time when a body blossoms and is maimed, about prairie and ramshackle farms and desolate cow lanes, the dirt\u2019s remembering of recluses and long ago animal sex, about mothers, those angry and strong Midwestern women who feed their daughters the bone soup of self-hatred, and fathers who hunt the silver foxes running through farm girls\u2019 imaginations. Corn Goddess describes the struggle to escape the seduction of gunnysacks and summer afternoons spent lying on cut hay after the balers have been through, of green corn and mystery growing in every direction, a fecund claustrophobia, and the darkness encountered once the wider world is found.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"sm_text\" style=\"text-align: left\">\"I have been savoring your poems, a few at a time, and so am still turning the pages. \u00a0They are among the best poems (tops actually) I\u2019ve ever read by women writing about their experience. \u00a0I am amazed that darkness could be so rich.\"<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: right\">\u2014Alixa Doom<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-708\" src=\"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Stephanie-Dickinson-headshot.jpg\" alt=\"Stephanie Dickinson\" width=\"200\" height=\"250\" \/><strong>Stephanie Dickinson<\/strong> raised on an Iowa farm, has lived in Oregon, Texas, Louisiana and now New York City, a state unto itself. Her novel\u00a0<em>Half Girl<\/em>\u00a0is published by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.spuytenduyvil.net\/\" target=\"_new\">Spuyten Duyvil<\/a>\u00a0as well as the novella\u00a0<em>Lust Series<\/em>. Her work has appeared in many journals most recently<em>\u00a0Fjords, Nimrod, Hotel Amerika, Weber Studies, Tusculum Review, Lit n Image, and WIP Works In Progress<\/em>. Her story \u201cA Lynching in Stereoscope\u201d was reprinted in\u00a0<em>Best American Nonrequired Reading<\/em>\u00a0and \u201cDalloway and Lucky Seven\u201d and \u201cLove City\u201d in\u00a0<em>New Stories from the South<\/em>. She is the winner of\u00a0<em>New Delta Review\u2019s<\/em>\u00a02011 Matt Clark Fiction prize judged by Susan Straight, and a finalist in the 2012 Starcerone Book Prize for Innovative Fiction. Heat:\u00a0<em>An Interview with Jean Seberg<\/em>\u00a0will be published by\u00a0<em>New Michigan Press<\/em>\u00a0in its 2013 chapbook series. Along with Rob Cook she edits\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/skidrowpenthouse.com\/\" target=\"_new\">Skidrow Penthouse<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div role=\"tabpanel\" class=\"tab-pane \" id=\"tabs_desc_707_2\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<P><strong>Corn Goddess<\/strong><BR>\r\n<BR>\r\n<EM>In the farmhouse it is a summer Saturday night and there is too much moon to sleep<\/EM><BR>  \r\n<BR>\r\nAlthough she hears her grandmother snore from<BR>\r\ndownstairs and crickets clamor so loudly<BR>\r\nthey seem to chirp from the closet where her grandfather\u2019s<BR>\r\nold suits drown in cellophane. She kneels<BR>\r\nbefore the screen. Such a blaze\u2014<BR>\r\ntall green corn stalks gleam with dew. She wants<BR>\r\nto walk into corn in her just beginning body,<BR>\r\nbreathe the mustiness and lick the green<BR>\r\nof its sweat.<BR>\r\n <BR>\r\n<EM>Instead she tiptoes down the hall to the guest room where her brother slumbers in<BR>\r\nthe bride bed with heavy walnut bedboard.<\/EM><BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nHis blond friend is awake in the chair with cushions<BR>\r\nthat feel like cattail skins. Come here, he says,<BR>\r\npulling her into his lap. He kisses her, his teeth tiny<BR>\r\nlike the milk teeth of baby ear corn. He wears glasses<BR>\r\nand her nose bumps them when he slides tongue into<BR>\r\nher mouth. She wants him to take his kiss out<BR>\r\nwhen she hears steps on the stairway.<BR>\r\n <BR>\r\n<EM>A hand touches its way along in the dark. It slips along the banister\u2019s smoothness.<BR>\r\nWhat is it?<\/EM><BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nBut she goes back to kissing and drinking in<BR>\r\nthe nearness of the forbidden bed where the uncles and<BR>\r\ntheir wives slept under the green spread, thighs<BR>\r\non ironed sheets. This is what after midnight feels like.<BR>\r\nA boy\u2019s lips tasting the same as his fingers. But<BR>\r\nwhat is coming out of him, inching up her leg?<BR>\r\n <BR>\r\n<EM>The air thickens, smells of talc and field corn, of ears turning to kernels of dirt, mice surviving<BR>\r\nblind in corncribs of half a century ago.<\/EM><BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nMoon streams from her grizzled yellow hair that reaches<BR>\r\nto her knees, a quivering corn silk. Her mouth opens.<BR>\r\n\u201cBad girl,\u201d grandmother hisses, a gopher hole into toothless black.<\/P>\r\n\r\n<hr>\r\n\r\n<P><strong>Truck<\/STRONG><BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nAll day there was a truck parked on the seawall.<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nIt stood before the fickle drinking fountains, a refrigerated<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\ntruck that hauled red snapper and amberjack.<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nNow it held people and all the cold had vanished.<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nMetal shell sizzling to heat that hissed when they spit at it.<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nTwenty-three men and women up from Monterrey<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nwho\u2019d given a year\u2019s wages for this waiting.<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nNot even the driver had keys. The walls were seamless<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nlike the skin of a sardine and burnt their fingers when<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nthey struggled to find a way out. The man who was<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nto come had been frightened off by a police car, patrolling<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nthe roller bladers and licking hibiscus.<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nThe man went to The Cut, into the twilight<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nof stamp-sized dance floors and barmaids wearing<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nleather holsters to carry  greasy bottles of tequila.<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nIt was good to wait until night to go back.<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nHe would find a girl with lips of feathers.<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nHe would find a girl with legs of a flamingo.<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nBut he disappeared into his own withering and<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nthe fetid bay breezes made the day go on and on<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nand the great heavy sun was whitening their cries.<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nThere was a boy in the truck who put his mouth<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nto the sealed door, said it was air he was breathing<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nthe flutter of a gull\u2019s wings, but it was his pulse racing.<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nOutside there were people who would have helped.<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nThe truck was speaking to the girl in orange bikini<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nas she lathered on coconut oil, untied her straps<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nand lay in the unraveling flames. What is it?<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nOnce she looked up, but it was hard to hear over<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nMadonna singing in her voice of spoiled blue cheese.<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nThen bronzed hands lifted volleyballs, spanking them<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nover a net, and the bay water glazed into grayness<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nthat brought in  blue muscles of jellyfish.<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nThe boy in the truck floated away from himself<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\ndreaming of sheephead fish with tiny human teeth<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\ntrying to breathe out of the sea.<\/P>\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t \r\n\t\t\t\t <\/div>\r\n <script>\r\n\t\tjQuery(function () {\r\n\t\t\tjQuery('#myTab_707 a:first').tab('show')\r\n\t\t});\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(function(){\r\n\t\t\tvar b=\"fadeIn\";\r\n\t\t\tvar c;\r\n\t\t\tvar a;\r\n\t\t\td(jQuery(\"#myTab_707 a\"),jQuery(\"#tab-content_707\"));function d(e,f,g){\r\n\t\t\t\te.click(function(i){\r\n\t\t\t\t\ti.preventDefault();\r\n\t\t\t\t\tjQuery(this).tab(\"show\");\r\n\t\t\t\t\tvar h=jQuery(this).data(\"easein\");\r\n\t\t\t\t\tif(c){c.removeClass(a);}\r\n\t\t\t\t\tif(h){f.find(\"div.active\").addClass(\"animated \"+h);a=h;}\r\n\t\t\t\t\telse{if(g){f.find(\"div.active\").addClass(\"animated \"+g);a=g;}else{f.find(\"div.active\").addClass(\"animated \"+b);a=b;}}c=f.find(\"div.active\");\r\n\t\t\t\t});\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\t\t});\r\n\t\t\r\n\r\n\t\tfunction do_resize(){\r\n\r\n\t\t\tvar width=jQuery( '.tab-content .tab-pane iframe' ).width();\r\n\t\t\tvar height=jQuery( '.tab-content .tab-pane iframe' ).height();\r\n\r\n\t\t\tvar toggleSize = true;\r\n\t\t\tjQuery('iframe').animate({\r\n\t\t\t    width: toggleSize ? width : 640,\r\n\t\t\t    height: toggleSize ? height : 360\r\n\t\t\t  }, 250);\r\n\r\n\t\t\t  toggleSize = !toggleSize;\r\n\t\t}\r\n\r\n\r\n\t<\/script>\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by\u00a0Stephanie Dickinson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":710,"template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[28],"product_tag":[50],"class_list":{"0":"post-709","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-poetry","7":"product_tag-stephanie-dickinson","9":"first","10":"instock","11":"shipping-taxable","12":"purchasable","13":"product-type-simple"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=709"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=709"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}