Fiction    Reading Room    Memoir    Interview

Mend

As I sew a button
to my old winter coat
stitch, stretch, stitch, stretch
I think of my grandmother’s
mortified delight
should she have seen
one such as me
mending a hem:
stitch, stretch, stitch, stretch
To pull the thread taut
well over your head:
it’s a trollop’s skill
a slattern’s tack
stitch, stretch, stitch, stretch
try: it feels lovely, loose,
lithe, unleashed;
see the air’s slow pressure
cup and weigh the breast
confess the skin’s intimate self-kiss
stitch, stretch, stitch, stretch
like a kid so full of the answer
you’re fit to bust with it
a Russian claiming space-rock,
or a mountain summit
a medallist swimming freestyle
winning a fast heat
a blue stocking hailing a cab
you’ll pay for
with your own hard won cash . . .
reaching for a larger self
as you fling your hand higher,
you’re a statuesque Liberty
with tiny silver javelin,
a miniature, dreaming spire.
 
Poetry
Johanna Aitchison
Michele Amas
Angela Andrews
Sarah Barnett
David Beach
Ken Bolton
Jenny Bornholdt
Rachel Bush
Mary Cresswell
Stephanie De Montalk
Cliff Fell
Tom Fitzsimons
Brian Flaherty
David Geary
Bernadette Hall
Kerry Hines
Andrew Johnston
Therese Lloyd
Iggy McGovern
Mary Macpherson
Dora Malech
Vana Manasiadis
Emma Neale  
Gregory O'Brien
Lucy Orbell
Zach Savich
Charlotte Simmonds
Marty Smith
Elizabeth Smither
Abby Stewart
Robert Sullivan
Jo Thorpe
Cath Vidler
Louise Wallace
Ashleigh Young

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