memorial for a brilliant woman

Thursday, September 30, 2010

The last poem-a-day for September

September 30th (draft)


She Endures

through rain, then mud,
then all the mold and mildew
in the little house, her closet

full of shoes and purses
on the cracked linoleum floor
beside mice nests, spider parts

she scribbles on the wall behind
her Laura Ashley paisley suit,
her white Rainbow girl formal

she writes: New York City,
San Francisco, London,
any place except home, here

where she lays out places
to see with pink lipstick
carried in her pocket, La Porte

the one city she will say
she hates, the heat, the stink,
the rules about taking Home Ec

instead of geology or Russian
pretending to be Blanche,
or the jester’s other girlfriend

she plots escape, university,
marriage, money, music,
in the meantime, she endures.

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