ISSN 1543-6063

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PBL March 2003
Collaboration Winners

Dorothy D. Mienko
Debi Faulkner

         She speaks the language
         of shadows and veils, words
         chafe her skin

lips weren't always stone
she measured cold loss
by counting years

       before the world became black,
       became white, the shock of sudden
       flowers made her blush

now, strange shadows come
to dot with lights gone pale,
where no more orchards bloom:

      hollow spaces echo silence -- she
     drapes herself in dark gauze,
     in layers of fallow skin

some nights there is no moon
but the stars bloom yellow
around one million tombs

    some nights she is the moon
    and alabaster arms
    reach between the stars

at first there was a flower
cradled in the center of her heart,
not this flesh turned rock

    if her heart were to break open,
   her secrets would become
   a thousand prisms

Dorothy D. Mienko has no past, no future, open mind, open heart, complete attention, no reservations.

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