My Poetry & Other Writings
Some poems for starters that were published in a book by Maxine Rosen
(I) (REALITY)
The shadow of reality
Outlines our observations.
Darkness traces our movements
As we make them.
Doubt… hesitation…
Alternate with assurity & confidence
until we are consumed.
We are
Preoccupied with the familiar,
Real concerns invisible
until years later.
Still, time passes quickly,
Then slowly,
then quickly again.
Again & again
we imagine ourselves
Sitting with the sun on our back.
Still drawing
our observation of reality.
(II) (LIFE)
Before I can find
a pen to write with
I pull out a package of
loose white shirt buttons.
(Proof of a man in my life)
Then I find
in the recesses of my bag
Dark lipstick for
now & then/ Day & night,
a half-read paperback,
scraps of paper with unintelligible notes,
My Swiss Army Knife &
eye shadow (something dark) &
finally a pen that works.
I sit
Writing by candlelight
in my ivory tower studio
Classic rock on the radio
An orange juice & ice
waiting for tequila.
Before me
A half-finished model for a sculpture
Made of fragments.
When it's finished, I will call it life.
III (CLEANING HOUSE I)
Jumbles of Stuff
To roll
To hang
To pile
To pack
To stack
Fill a wall
Fill a box
Fill a woman
Fill a room
Fill a shelf
Fill a ledge
Fill a mouth
Fill a stomach.
IV (CLEANING HOUSE II)
Cleaning out space artistically
Stacking or arranging
Displaying or storing
Using as is or transforming
(burning
tearing
breaking
painting
covering
wrapping)
labelling
archiving
documenting
(photographing
drawing
videoing
swatching
measuring
listing
describing)
V (BIKER BARBIE)
Feeling like I'm on the road
Though it's just the bus to New Jersey.
The sun makes the familiar
Glisten.
(As things do
when you first come upon them.)
Like the excitement
In making love with a stranger,
(Hypothetically speaking, of course)
I was never into that
Not me, I lie.
No, I love the familiar,
(A contradictory truth.)
I find it hard to
throw anything away
Even when time &
use have aged it
Beyond recognition.
I love soft sheets that
your toes can tear
If you roll over too fast.
I hide spots on faded jerseys
under scatter pins
Saved from high school years.
(And boots stay in my closet
Until my soul touches the concrete.)
I love
This out of-fashion-life
of a bohemian &
living on the edge.
(VI)
BIKER BARBIE (version 2)
Feeling like I'm on the road
Though it's just the bus to New Jersey
The sun makes the familiar
Glisten
As things do
when you first come upon them.
Like the excitement
In making love with a stranger,
(Hypothetically speaking, of course)
I was never into that
I love the familiar
And find it hard
To throw anything away
Even when time & use have aged it
Beyond recognition
I love soft sheets that your toes can tear
If you roll over too fast
I hide spots on faded jerseys
under scatter pins
Saved from high school years
And boots stay in my closet
Until my soul touches the concrete.
I love
The life of a bohemian
living on the edge.
(1/99)
MORE POEMS
March 12, 2010 after dinner poem 2nd version
I feel jealousy & so I am inspired
to learn how to conquer it
this fear that I am less than everyone
though that wasn't what I was going to say.
I mean I am inspired
to make art
despite my self-doubts
though that wasn't what I was going to say.
I was uptight about revealing my jealously
and so fantasized writing a poem about it
to hide the truth
though that wasn't what I was going to say.
but then I am quite an insecure female
especially about my ability
to express my thoughts intellectually
though
more correctly
more honestly
an insecure female
who doesn't trust
her thoughts
still
who feels she can't
who can't quite get
her thoughts together
at all.
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