Image: Claude Cahun – Untitled (1937)
Martina Reisz Newberry’s latest books are: NEVER COMPLETELY AWAKE (Available from Deerbrook Editions) and TAKE THE LONG WAY HOME (Available from Unsolicited Press).
Her work has been widely published in the U.S. and abroad. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Brian, a Media Creative.
White Italian
When I nudged my IV Pole down the hallway,
I thought of myself as a snail.
The floors–slick and clean–warned me to venture
slowly and leave no trail–I was, after all,
so much lighter than usual and was somewhat
addicted to proving myself.
So, I walked, slowly, looking down at my feet,
wondering how a hospital stay
could take away my warm, soft, sexy feet
and leave these icy, wrinkled, bluelined feet
in their stead.
Then there was the dead end of the hallway,
right smack in front of me
a plane of choices:
go to the right, no go left, no, best to turn around
and go back to my room;
best to let the IV Pole know rest, let a warmed
blanket hide and hug my self.
Really quite ill says the doctor. Really ill for now,
but we’ll get you better.
The snail in me uncurls, straightens out on the bed.
The snail believes in getting better.
* Theba pisana, commonly named the White Garden Snail, is an edible species of medium-sized, air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Helicidae, the typical snails. (Source: Wikipedia )
Grand View Mansion*
Tethered by the belief
…………..(born with it
that all things were alive,
she refused to give away
or throw away her doll “
…………..house.
Her mother had built the
detailed furniture, sewed
the clothes for the doll family,
…………..found a bit
of leather string to fashion
a tiny dog leash.
So, when they redecorated
her bedroom
…………..(to befit a lass in high school,
she refused to allow them to take
the dollhouse away.
She could not explain that,
in that house of dolls, the parents
were young,
……………(hip, noisy, unafraid.
After lights out in her real house,
the doll house rang with music.
The family– a mother,
………………………father,
………………………2 boys,
………………………2 girls,
………………………and an Australian Shepherd
………………………(named “Boz” –
danced, laughed, ate popcorn,
drank cokes, and, finally, read books
(this after they had bathed, shouted
their cheery good night blessings
and gone to bed.
So it was, when they remodeled, they put the dollhouse in the garage.
So it came to be that she fetched it back, put it on the newly constructed
shelf across from her bed and waited for night.
The dark would, as always, blanket her, make her tiny, invisible.
It was into that doll house that she completed her abdication
………….(and never came back.
*A “KidKraft” dollhouse (copyrighted company)
Porridge 