January 2025
Bio Note: I am author of two full-length poetry collections, Underscore and Deep Ends. I am also a maker of songs and drum circles. I write some of those songs on a mountain in North Carolina, and co-founded the Poet & Song Series with my trio, Raison D’Etre.
Guardians
—after a line from Olivia Stiffler
Sometimes they come back
to stand at the basement bar.
I see them at the corner of my eye
when I descend the steps.
Sometimes they follow me
down the middle path
to the lake, smoking some blend
of cherry-smelling tobacco.
Sometimes they speak through me
saying, shoo, what a stinkin’-lookin’
thing when some candidate
spews views on TV.
Other times, they monitor
how much water I pour
over the potted basil, reminding,
just a twiddle, now.
Often, they misquote generals
to instruct me why we owe
a debt to France. With flourish,
they proclaim, La Feet, we are here!
After I stop laughing,
I pause to enjoy how near
they stay. I say in my grandma’s
certain voice, That’s it, in-it?
©2025 Roberta Schultz
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