Eye On Life Magazine

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She Drew


she made a filthy old woman
stop her boozing
she drew her a worm
 
its beautiful line had no need
to know one end from the other
and in love would lubricate
all along its lovely
length
 
baby boy withered
day by day
she sat him in the sun
and drew him how
a flower grows
 
for her father
she went back home
didn’t even wake him
left a picture of a sandal
he closed his house and
never looked back
 
(it smacks of the black arts
or dandelions
how they slip in
through the cracks)
 
she drew lions and leaflets
and lepers and loss
kept right on going
south-south-west
til she hit the ocean
 
drew down the sun for
a fish out of water
he kissed her throat
and swam away
 
at the equator
she drew for the 
cousinswithout voices
pictures of themselves
they needed nothing else
 
drew sleep over a madman
so he had somewhere nice to go
 
she drew
speed for a snail
 
a highway for
a motorcycle
 
she drew
ants without plans
 
she drew
a contagion of happiness
 
she drew light
my god how
she drew light.

 

Terrianne Swift 

Eye On Life Poetry Contest 2010-2011 Third Place Winner