(off of prompt #1)<\/p>\n
By Sandy Lender<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all, it\u2019s self-published,\u201d he denounced<\/p>\n
lifting warmed brandy to his leather lips.<\/p>\n
His captured audience twittered obediently<\/p>\n
while we waited for his second point of derision<\/p>\n
watching his Adam\u2019s apple bob above his pleated ascot<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Another question from a worshiper<\/p>\n
Another answer thick with sarcasm<\/p>\n
Like a layer of fondant<\/p>\n
Meant to cover a gouge<\/p>\n
In an already leaning tier<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When I could stand the sharpness of his barbed tongue no longer,<\/p>\n
I led my friend away from the mini scene of carnage<\/p>\n
Took Lakita to an adjoining room<\/p>\n
Where women spoke of Michelangelo<\/p>\n
and refractive colors in beach sunsets,<\/p>\n
where I doubt the professor would mar his polished loafers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I patted her wrinkled hand<\/p>\n
Smoothed her pleated hair<\/p>\n
Offered her champagne from tall glasses<\/p>\n
Spoke of her successes<\/p>\n
(of which she has many)<\/p>\n
My reassurances\u2014piled, towering, toppling off my side of the scale<\/p>\n
Still weighed less than the single judgment of the orator in the room next door<\/p>\n
And this frustrated me.<\/p>\n
Why could she not see\u2026<\/p>\n
Her worth<\/p>\n
Her value<\/p>\n
Her perfection<\/p>\n
Cannot be dismissed by a professor who doesn\u2019t know her struggles<\/p>\n
Cannot be judged by an institution mired in supremacy since its founding<\/p>\n
Cannot be ignored by any of us eating peaches in our older years<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lakita thanked me\u2014with her usual stoicism\u2014for accompanying her that night<\/p>\n
And we went out into the humid streets<\/p>\n
Where fog wrapped \u2019round our feet<\/p>\n
And we vowed to write about the reception<\/p>\n
(Whether our words made it to the Yale University Press or not)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(off of prompt #1) By Sandy Lender \u201cFirst of all, it\u2019s self-published,\u201d he denounced lifting warmed brandy to his leather lips. His captured audience twittered obediently while we waited for his second point of derision watching his Adam\u2019s apple bob above his pleated ascot…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1426,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,441],"tags":[3523],"class_list":["post-74244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem","category-poetry-prompt-responses","tag-inspiring-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1426"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74244"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74260,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74244\/revisions\/74260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}