Monday's Poem

© Barbara Pelman

In It Again                                     

Morning. Drag
sleep from my bones, creak
to the shower, fumble
with faucets, each step longing
to return to bed.
But the day must begin, and I
in it.

What alternatives?
A headstone
on a forgotten hill, my name
crossed out of phone books, an estate sale
of unmarked boxes.

In the mirror:
dark eyes, energetic
curls, skin in need
of ironing.

On the breakfast table:
a porcelain plate,
linen napkin,
the coffeemaker half-filled.

I open the front door
let the day unravel
the long scarf of details
to a small knot;
tuck the silence
into a back pocket
for lunch.

Barbara Pelman teaches English at Reynolds Secondary School in Victoria and convinces her students that there's nothing better than to love poetry. She has brought poets to the school through the series "On the Road," reads to her classes, and writes poetry when she is not marking papers. She has three chapbooks and a number of poems published in Event, Dalhousie Review, and Iambs & Trochees. She has been a featured reader at Mocambo and is a regular at the Open Mike. She is particularly interested in the resurgence of form poetry and plans to be in the vanguard of its return. Barbara won first prize inthe Federation of B.C. Writer's Poetry contest 2003, and was a finalist in the Mocambopo Poetry Contest in 2004.

 


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