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SERIPHOS
That was the island she washed up on,
after her father nailed her into a chest
with her infant son, threw them into the sea.
Brown flowered clogs that blistered
walking in sand, touched her fingers together
so God will know she's serious,
looked into the blue sky to see how calm
it is when she whistles the just-born robins
awake, mouths open wide, heads lifted
above the nest--how do you not pray all the
livelong day to keep them safe? The kids
& the new baby in Miami even though
all the homeless shelters are full.
On Seriphos, they were sheltered
by the king of the island,
those whose feet were almost gone.
THREE
A.M. ALL OVER AGAIN
a nightmare rubs charcoal on the sweat wrinkled white sheet
over my face, heart beating under prayer crushed hands so fast
i can't find it. the sweet decay of oranges taxis me up
to a windshield of carbonized dust, room to room without a light,
stumbling on the still telephone & half-filled coffee cups.
outside on the porch, in a rainwatered chair, drinking wine
from a blue fish, i drew a memory of night into a tropic syringe:
toes pushed hard off the old pier, we swam naked and blind
in a black lake, a boy gave me opals, sandy feet scratching mine
under smooth white sheets, hair damp, sunburned, beer
on our lips, no dreams—
a rag of taillight—frog songs mop up the dark.
Poems
© Kelle Groom 2004. All rights reserved.
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Kelle
Groom writes poetry because it helps her understand the world. Her poetry appears in numerous journals including Agni,
Folio, The Florida Review, Luna, The New Yorker, Pilgrimage,
and Witness. When she's not writing poetry she writes
grants for a homeless shelter. She loves the
vibrancy of the internet, being surrounded by water in South
Florida and Michael Burkard's collection of poems, Entire
Dilemma. Kelle's first collection of poems Underwater
City, published by University Press of
Florida, is due in
July 2004. Her second collection of poems, Luckily,
is forthcoming from Anhinga
Press.
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Portrait
of Kelle Groom © Henry Denander 2004. All rights reserved.
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Poetry
Michael Rothenberg
Diane Thiel
Nick Carbo
Mia Leonin
Michael Hettich
Campbell McGrath
Kelle Groom
Steve Kronen
Kemel Zaldivar
Pris Campbell
Michael-Earle Carlton
George Murphy
Howard Camner
Geoffrey Philp
Terri Carrion
Nancy Knutson
Jonathan Rose
Barbra Nightingale
Ian Krieger
James Brock
Amy Serrano Zorrilla
Denise Duhamel
Virgil Suarez
Micro-Fiction & Shorts
Terri Carrion
Diane Thiel
Artists
Artist Intro
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Diego Quiros
John Canning
Jeff Filipski
Arlene Magloire
Cassandra Gordon-Harris
Holly Picano
TRES
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