My Story

My story is the decor

in a vault robbed of my

birth certificate.

Painted chapters—

good information about the

berries who influenced me

and the flowers I changed.

Chapter by chapter,

my flag unfurls,

a rainbow stiff in the breeze

on a line that could snap

and cut the sweet planet in half.

The juice will drip into

the hungry mouth

of directionless space.

The epilogue is encased

in purple plastic,

a report with glittering graphs,

sobering statistics.

I Shed It Like a Skin

On the shore the tree leaves whisper

Heavy.

They will fall at the loving

touch of cold.

Cold is compassionate

stilling the river to keep

families of silt together.

I’ll probably fossilize under

the pressure of glamor,

among layers of lipstick,

bleach in the sun on the shore.

My days on the glowing shore

are limited edition.

I collect them.

The autumnal lake

licks the shore like a kitten

behind the mountain,

cold waiting to love us,

our lives.

The leaves chitter nervously.

I feel age, volume

pulling me down.

Youth no longer fits me,

I shed it like a skin.

I bleach,

sanitized.

The pressure of cosmopolitan glitz

is entirely too much for my brain.

Cautiously, the cold spills over

mountain peaks,

desiccates me.

The lake freezes,

kitten asleep in a box.

rough draft

Poetics and Motherhood

For me, being a mother makes me a better poet – and being a poet makes me a better mother. I am fortunate to be writing with the support of my husband, but were I to be a single mother I think the effect would be the same. Motherhood greatly enriches my life and adds depth to it. Anytime you’re deep in your soul it will show up in your writing.

Writing fashions me into a better mother because I notice things. I stay in touch with the shifting loveliness of the world, and try to keep my daughter attuned to it also.

The creative outlet I get through writing poetry keeps me focused on Angelica when I am with her. I am refreshed from my time creating, and when Angelica and I play or do lessons I can really throw myself into it. I am not drawing from a dry well.