Sails of a ship, summer clouds, bedsheets on a line
Calla lilies, mushrooms, polar bears
Steamed rice, mashed potatoes, fog on Monadnock
Wedding dresses, hens, sugar, egrets by a slough
Diapers, lost teeth, surf-shined scallop shells
Powdered doughnuts, shoelaces, undershirts, hail
Typing paper, Easter lilies, golf balls, summer clouds
Yes–I said that but repeating is just repeating. . .
I can’t—cannot sleep when I’m scared you’ll get sick
Like PopPop did, so white more white right now
Magician’s rabbit, Ivory soap, baby shoes, quartz
Am I sleepy yet? Ocean waves eating up the sand
Jellyfish, milk, bubblebath, and oh. . .
Cool white snowflakes . . .on my head, my shoulders
Wrapping me. . . white. . . wintery snow falling
This snow. . . beach snow. . . falling white. . .falling. . . .
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Susan Terris’ recent books are Familiar Tense (Marsh Hawk) 2019; Take Two: Film Studies (Omnidawn) 2017, Memos(Omnidawn) 2015; and Ghost of Yesterday: New & Selected Poems (Marsh Hawk) 2012. She’s the author of 7 books of poetry, 17 chapbooks, 3 artist’s books, and one play. Journals include The Southern Review, Georgia Review, Birdland Journal, Prairie Schooner, and Ploughshares. A poem of hersappeared in Pushcart Prize XXXI. A poem from Memos was in Best American Poetry 2015. Her newest chapbook is Dream Fragments, which won the 2019 Swan Scythe Press Award. Ms. Terris is editor emerita of Spillway Magazine and a poetry editor at Pedestal. www.susanterris.com