July 2016
Kate Sontag
sontagk@ripon.edu
I am co-editor (with David Graham) of After Confession: Poetry as Autobiography (Graywolf) and have published widely in journals and anthologies. Recently retired from Ripon College, I spend a lot of time reading drafts of poems to my husband and our two spaniels who are all very patient with me. If you love food and poetry, please check out Cooking With The Muse (Tupelo, 4/16) in which I have a little poem about cherry tomatoes; it is a stunning book of recipes, related literature, food culture & history, and photographs. 

​Parisian Mystery Pantoum


A jeweler in the foyer with a gun,
black umbrella, bowler hat
a jade ring thrown into the Seine
forty years later I think of that

black umbrella, bowler hat
Magritte sky about to storm
forty years later I think of that
grip he had on my father’s arm

Magritte sky about to storm
curses yelled in English and French 
the grip he had on my father’s arm
my sister and I in the middle of lunch

curses yelled in English and French 
francs passing hand to hand
my sister and I in the middle of lunch
the stone flawed? the wrong band?

francs passing hand to hand
Father pushed him out the door then cried
the stone flawed? the wrong band?
nothing more can be verified

Father pushed him out the door then cried
Mother worried about bad luck
nothing more can be verified
the first time I heard her say “fuck”

Mother worried about bad luck
tossed a jade ring into the Seine
the first time I heard her say “fuck”
a jeweler in the foyer with a gun. 



​

Lifesavers


Mama’s ring slips off with soap
for the first time in half a century.
The white scar it leaves
glows when she pulls the shade.

For the first time in half a century
her finger finally bare
glows when she pulls the shade
and shuts the door. 

Her finger finally bare
before the bathroom mirror
she shuts the door 
like a child just for fun.

Before the bathroom mirror
she taught me to stand 
just for fun as a child 
and chew peppermint Lifesavers.

She taught me to stand
in the dark at midday
and chew peppermint Lifesavers
faster and faster for fluorescence.

In the dark at midday
I saw sparks fly 
their fast fluorescence 
dissolving down my throat.

I saw sparks fly
hard as platinum bands     
dissolving down my throat 
until the pack was gone.

Hard as platinum bands
loose in a purse
until the pack was gone
I held onto them.

Loose in a purse
Mama’s ring slips off with soap.
She holds onto it
the white scar it leaves.
 ​​©2016 Kate Sontag