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Another Miller’s Daughter


03.16.19 Posted in today's words by

Alita Pirkopf’s most recent poem to appear here was “On the Streets Where I Live” (October 2018).

Another Miller’s Daughter
By Alita Pirkopf

Photos of us and of our children
pile up on the table,
where I try to arrange them
and put us in order.

I see you with your crossed arms
and dark looks—next to me
in the photos and in the room
where I am now—

and in others every day, where I am
seated, standing, working as you watch,
where everything piles up too high—photos,
dirty dishes, laundry, resentment, rage.

Silent, frantic, I fail to create what I am
made to feel I should. In a fight
for my existence, I struggle
in storm clouds with all their rain

and cutting ice, their snow.
I become immobile
in my lost chance of spinning straw
into rooms filled with gold.



One Response to “Another Miller’s Daughter”

  1. Sandra Soli says:

    A wonderful poem–so many layers to think about.
    Thanks, Annmarie, for featuring this fine poet.

    (

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