Jul 1, 2017
Hair modeled
like a dipped cone
pace clipped
speech honed
in finely chiseled
tongue
hands flash
smartly sleeved
underscoring
well-buttoned points
only your eyes
sucked back and strung
with strain
betray you
like dishrags
in a kitchen drain
sticky
brittle
wrung.
THE ARCHAEOLOGIST, THE BURGLAR, AND YOU
All risk discovery.
I am the ancient bowl
ever so carefully nudged
from dust
with soft tools and a brush
trapped so long under the earth
air itself could crumble me.
I am the bisque-fired fancy dish
the thief hides in his sack
little does he expect
my silent alarm
his gloved hands fumble
and I am about to drop and crack.
I am the one you chose to kiss
split-second, soft,
sympathetic
no slobbering dog or sticky kid
Judas or anyone peccable
ever rose to this –
Take care in your discovery
fate has me uncommon primed
the knowing rush of your lips rings bells
and I disintegrate
as if by design.
Anna Marie's essays, poems, stories, and theater reviews have been published in The Sulphur River Review; Washington Opera Magazine; Intermission Magazine; The Broadkill Review; Vine Leaves Literary Journal; and even on a cereal box created by LaPalabra Café Press in Portland, Oregon. She won an award for her poetry in the Grand Rapids, Michigan, Healing Cancer Series in the early 1990’s.
A Michigan native, she received her M.A. in English from the University of Wyoming, prior to which she studied with Joseph Brodsky in Ann Arbor, MI, and John Gardner at the University of Detroit. She spent several years as an Instructor of business briefing and analytical writing before returning to a focus on creative work.
Anna Marie feels her writing style has been influenced by Chekhov, Isak Dinesen, Anais Nin, E.T.A. Hoffmann, as well as by fairy tales and opera.