Friends, please don’t abandon me as I take a few weeks off to sort out our move to another home in Madison. This one will have a proper workroom, space for breathing, and sunshine pouring through our windows. I shall post “two for the road”; one sad, one about the work of the poet… for dverse, Sunday Scribblings, Poetic Bloomings, and Poets United.
If you comment on these, please be patient for a response, as I probably won’t be back until late January. And, as always, if you leave a comment, I will visit your blog in return! Blessings and peace for the New Year, Amy
At a Loss
At a loss, plum outta new thoughts
except those that drift:
first letters, then stop-start words
weave down the path to form
phrases (stitches awkwardly
frayed, signs of wear)
When I’m at a standstill…
I think on my friends
the quirks and catch-phrases
the confidences that
make the circle ever stronger
How we shoveled the shit back in the day
I smile, pick up my pencil
and suddenly, the absentee-brainer
becomes a no-sweater
Beginning to end
the heartbeat of the blend
© 2012 Amy Barlow Liberatore/Sharp Little Pencil
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A Brave One, 1985 (a barlette)
She’s a brave one
Bopping down the street
(after spending all night in the ER)
Smiles for strangers
and a hello for every telephone pole
(hitching down her skirt to cover bruises)
Nowhere special to go
Sunny, warm, a day to be spent in the park
(but not THAT park, never again)
Destination, the pier, downtown
near the Fulton Fish Market
(covers the smell of him that wouldn’t shower away)
Good thing she wore flip-flops
Sneakers would be too tight now
(his boots crushed her toes to bloody)
The doctor said come back
for a post-traumatic thing, at the hospital
(where strangers looked at her like she was garbage)
No, much better to take a dip
Water will heal her wounds
(Suddenly glad she never learned to swim)
Just a few minutes floating
in the gleaming sludge of the East River
(and his brutality will be gone forever)
© 2012 Amy Barlow Liberatore/Sharp Little Pencil
(Process notes: The barlette is my own form – two short lines with (a commentary revealing truth).
Posted by Sharp Little Pencil in POETRY Tags: Barlette, Beginnings, Drowning, Endings, Friends, Sexual Abuse, The Work of the Poet
Sharp Little Pencil 