Lyn Lifshin

  Among Lyn Lifshin’s recent books: THE LICORICE DAUGHTER: MYYEAR WITH RUFFIAN,Texas Review Press and ANOTHER WOMAN WHO LOOKS LIKE ME. She has over 100 books & edited 4 anthologies. Her website: http:www.LynLifshin.com

  Her last two Black Sparrow books, COLD COMFORT and BEFORE IT’S LIGHT won Paterson Review Awards and Black Sparrow at David Godine will publish ANOTHER WOMAN WHO LOOKS LIKE ME.

AREN’T THERE MORNINGS

after what seems like

17 days of rain,

and the one you’re with

barking, a vicious dog

over nothing and you’re

caught off guard, spew as

many sewer words as

he’s slogged over you

but it’s still dinner

and you have to sit, stony

across the small table.

Don’t you want to just

pack a small suitcase,

get out, leave everything

behind? Of course

you can’t, there’s the

baby, the poems, the closet

of clothes you couldn’t

ever replace. How could

you leave, your mother

still young, is smiling at

the rail road station about to

start out for an adventure.

When I think of my

mother, smiling with a

friend on a bench outside the

Middlebury rail station,

her black curls, teeth still

white and know how different

the years ahead will be I

don’t even let myself

do more than barely notice

a man or two with dark

eyes on TV news, then go thru

the same routine where

I can try to hope the

night’s dream will not be

a nightmare