Randall’s Student Reading Response

It’s 1997 or 1953,
and one woman is here and prompt for her reading,
wearing dark, edgy tones, her hair in an Amelie bob
poking through a black wool hat with many
rhinestones and her shoes reminiscent of Mary Janes, brown all the way
down to the grey , a sweater somehow
reminiscent of a smoking robe and a ring that looks like my mother
’s engagement ring, but somehow cleaner.
She speaks of old lady perfume,
re-growing bleached hair,
rubbing away scales, painful embraces
releasing her way to
a dance in the morning
together...again...lift... into negative space
the relief of cancelled plans
an apology, so sweet, so sweet
sweet themes of death and loss unglossed
no rime here.
She understands primary colors, pairs
a relationship that out-doomed romeo and juliet
how did you get caught in the middle of this poem?
duos and duets
Eve and Lillith
We all want to be Lillith
why doesn’t she join in?
The shape of a woman but veiled...
somewhere between Islam and Charlotte Perkins Gilman
strange bodies discovering each other
intense and inspiring
doused with devotion ...are you there yet?
She wanted the lights dim so that
her streams of blue and yellow light would fall and propel on a darker background
unfurling stream of smoke and gossip
Reality whispers, just not mine.

Adrienne D. Mishkin