April 2016
Laurie Byro
philbop@warwick.net
philbop@warwick.net
In 1985, while pursuing a business degree, I unhappily landed in a creative writing class and announced to the group that I thought Walt Whitman was a chain of schools throughout the United States. To my astonishment, I had found my pacing, abandoned prose, and started a poetry circle that has been meeting for 16 years. I recently published a full length book, “Luna.” through Aldrich Press and “Gertrude Stein’s Salon and Other Legends” through Blue Horse Press, thanks to Tobi and Jeff Alfier. I am the Poet in Residence at the West Milford Township Library and despite it all, love New Jersey, and have lived here almost 60 years.
Washing Godiva’s Hair
A pattern along the covered bricks becomes hers,
and all the other things I know she loves: the names
of birds—brown Juliet capped chicks, black-tufted
tits. Then along our walk because I am surely there
beside her with my unseen hands, pushing into
the plaits of her then braided hair, counting each knot
as if it were a rosary bead. Someone has to wash
her hair, wring out the lemon water or rose petals
I have lain in thinking of all those languages.
The honeyed trail of words that drips her name down
and through the thick air. God comes first, always
or I’ll fall to my knees, repenting, then the beginning
of our places: ivy, I say “ah” while I wring out her length.
The drapes that don’t reveal or conceal, a bee that suckles,
then the walk, the Rose of Sharon, impatiens—
she is mine and I am responsible and happy to aid her
as we avoid the tyranny of men, of tax.
-from Gertrude Stein's Salon and Other Legends (Blue Horse Press, 2016)
©2016 Laurie Byro