The Poetry Marathon

That rubber-soled squeak, screech
(meant tenacity, speed)
now highlights sharp discord
of my crumbling strength, echoing
from the loud tv.

She is striped and small
like a child, a kitten,

a stranger and then
the lights go down. She dominates
stage and scene, her voice a warrior
in layers of fight

wants to be healed
as if I can pull her from
the ashes of centuries
past,
and lovers never
parted.

These are the days

she climbs the speaker, leaps
toward me. I might catch her
so she won’t need me
less.

Her purr an engine
rumbling smooth
under her tongue
over the smoky sway
of our collective
bodies swarming,
warming together like this.

I wonder if she sees me here
wonder if the cry
in her lyric sheds from a single dark wish
to be heard.
I’m at the bar,
shoe soles sticking to the floor
it’s cement, lava,
fire licking my inhibition

alive. If whiskey were goodbye
I’ll never see her again.

I’m a former high school English teacher living and writing in San Diego, California. Lover of animals, nature, big hearts, and rainy days, I spend most of my time engaged with friends and family or in the pursuit of art and entertainment. I’m not ashamed to admit I love to watch movies and tv shows, and I’ve recently discovered an appreciation for podcasts.

When I was younger, I played volleyball and basketball competitively and was inducted into my liberal arts university’s Hall of Fame, an achievement that reminds me my body used to be a fierce machine. Now, I read by the pool, practice yoga, and take long walks in parks, and I’m always thinking about how to jump back into a regular cross-training routine.

I love Halloween and Tarot and most things considered dark, strange, unexplainable, or unique. I’m trying to figure out how to apply my affinity for eerie, mysterious things to my art. My most recent creative passions include painting acrylic on canvas and drawing animal scenes for a coloring book compilation.

When poetry strikes me, which is sometimes every day, I write. I recently finished my childhood survivor memoir titled, When I Was Her Daughter, and am currently seeking a publisher. My work has been published in F*** Isolation, fws: journal of literature and art, Coffin Bell, and A Year in Ink, vol. 9.  

I have two cats, no kids, and one amazingly supportive husband. This August marks our eighth wedding anniversary. We love to travel and look forward to getting back out there to see the world once COVID calms the heck down.

This is my first poetry marathon.