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Breadcrumbs,
Poetry on August 8, 2010 with
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Another poem from Myra Shapiro’s Workshop last week
When thoughts of me glide past you
like those wooden ducks at Ocean View pick them up
–remember when you dried tiny wet hands on my violet skirt
When you’re frightened, my cowardly lion,
remember when you woke trembling and I help you and whispered
“you see, Brenda, it was all a dream.”
When thunder rattles the walls of your heart
just pretend it’s resin balls crashing against wooden pins
in the bowling alley beneath my apartment on Jefferson Street
When you’ve flown through six time zones to taste
gelato in Porto Ercole and risotto in Verona
remember those stolen hotdogs I brought home in my pocket
And when you pass a mirror and see my face
remember my finely arched brow and perfectly line lips
that left crimson stains on innocent cheeks
“>
About the Author
I sat at the table in the little house next to the creek that was also just beginning to thaw and wrote.
Pye Dives for the Oarlock
Getting Baptized
What I Left Behind
Running
Fishing With Mama
They made their way from memory to story and then I stopped.
I pushed aside Life Story and went kayaking on the creek now completely thawed and filled with spot and sailboats fishing boats and swans and just a few jellyfish. When I started again I wrote in a tiny room
I could hardly breathe in that room.
But I wasn’t there to breathe I was there to write.
Back To Embudo
Stephen Moves Into His Studio And I Get Drunk
Mama Dies
The Festival
I added story like a child adding ornaments to an already full tree.
Which was my favorite?
Where did it belong?
“I remember when I collected this one.”
“I don’t care for that one any more but I cannot discard it yet.”
Some had poetry.
Some had pictures.
Some even had recipes.
Quince Preserves.
NC Bar-b-queue.
Collards.
It was a feast.
I fed bits of Life Story to friends then to strangers who swallowed it whole and said “May we have some more, please?”
I gave it to them and went back to make more Life Story.
When it was finished I sent Life Story on a journey with only a flimsy letter to keep it company.
I was disappointed when Life Story came home with an even shorter rejection letter.
this is absolutely beautiful brenda, i LOVED it! *more more*
))