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Dorothy Burgess


01.13.14 Posted in today's words by

Patrick Stevens’ most recent poem to appear here was A Brief Word About Butterflies (December 2013).

Dorothy Burgess
By Patrick Stevens

Her unpolished nails would trace S-curves
on my six-year-old back, my head buried
in the shoulder of her chamomile blouse.

She led a life of other lives, quiet,
transfixed by biography as though
she did not know what had happened

to Margaret Thatcher, Mamie Eisenhower
a retinue of titanium women, while
she let her husband do the driving.

I misunderstood her until last Monday.
Asking a friend to reach an awkward itch
he scrawled an S-curve on my spine

and in that simple swivel of his wrist
she roared unto the universe, while
Eleanor and Victoria cowered in books.

 



One Response to “Dorothy Burgess”

  1. Patti F says:

    I love this poem. In trying to come up with a clever review of your “Dorothy Burgess” I find that “I love this poem” works best. Thanks for submitting it, it hits me in the that spot that some poems do.

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