August 2022
Bio Note: Lately, I've been making lots of noise in the viola sections of the Madison Symphony and Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society. I am delighted that my full-length collections The Waiting Room for the Imperfect Alibis and The Devil Orders a Latte are forthcoming from Kelsay Books and Fernwood Press. I have two Pushcart Prize nominations and quite a few chickens.
Conversation with Shyness
You wear it well,
the coat of wishful invisibility
at a rakish angle
Your faltering at any doorknob
rings true as the breath we have to
take before entering any party
But my favorite flash of
your presence is
the inward turn which
you execute with
such grace,
skill of primadonna,
spirit of mole,
burrowing
The Gift
He gave it to her
as a directive in Pericles,
how to come back to
life after sixteen years:
The story of his mother’s death,
how they laid her in
the living room for
the hours it took for
his sister to get home,
witnesses to the slow unclenching
of her final battle
over eight hours,
as her body relaxed with
the loosening of death
Now, a choice to
reverse the process
on stage,
in a life imagined
Tending
The car,
always pulling to the right
The heart,
towards wanting
Sunflowers,
of course
Ants,
along the scent,
marching
And sorrow;
tend with care,
don’t overwater
©2022 Katrin Talbot
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