Poems from Water Tender

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="077085a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Garamond" ><B>MaryAnka Press Rosary Poetry Publisher </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Garamond" ><B>  </B></FONT><B> |   </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="MaryAnka Press Rosary Poetry Publisher "><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="MaryAnka Press"><U>MaryAnka Press</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Handmade Rosaries"><U>Handmade Rosaries</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Beaded Jewelry"><U>Beaded Jewelry</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact us"><U>Contact us</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Mary Agnes Dalrymple"><U>About Mary Agnes Dalrymple</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Poems from Rosa Mystica"><U>Poems from Rosa Mystica</U></A>   |   <B>Poems from Water Tender</B>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Editors Notes"><U>Editor's Notes</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="078d2e83.jpg"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Poems from Water Tender</B></div> <bR> <div> These free-verse poems by <B>Mary Agnes Dalrymple</B> are from her collection, </div> <div> <B>Water Tender: A Memoir in Poems</B> (Fithian Press, 2003)</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Wear-Ever</B></div> <bR> <div> The bowl </div> <div> my mother gave me:</div> <div> aluminum, Wear-Ever,</div> <div> narrow base with a</div> <div> carefully curved lip,</div> <bR> <div> the shape of an upturned flower,</div> <div> or the stopped splash</div> <div> of a metallic drip.</div> <bR> <div> No.  It is</div> <div> a uterine shape.</div> <div> It's sole purpose is to hold.</div> <div> Mother,</div> <bR> <div> I think of you when I use it.</div> <div> Once, when I was missing you</div> <div> more than usual, I felt</div> <div> someone holding me.</div> <bR> <div> If it was you, </div> <div> Mother, you have grown larger.</div> <bR> <div> Everywhere I look,</div> <div> there you are.  Even</div> <div> in this bowl,</div> <div> Mother.</div> <bR> <div> Even in this.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> "Wear-Ever" was first published in <I>Voices International</I>.  </div> <div> Copyright 2003, by <B>Mary Agnes Dalrymple</B></div> <div> all rights reserved</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>In Her Living Room</B></div> <div>        <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Garamond" >for Mary Anna Lastovica</FONT></div> <bR> <div> In her white pier and beam house,</div> <div> roses blooming along the walkway,</div> <bR> <div> Grandma rose</div> <div> from her chair, slowly</div> <bR> <div> testing her weight on wrapped legs,</div> <div> surrounded by</div> <bR> <div> the constant murmur of her television.</div> <div> Sometimes, before kissing her,</div> <bR> <div> I rushed into the kitchen to search</div> <div> for poppy seed kolache.  Strudel.</div> <bR> <div> I took the sweet, stuffed it</div> <div> into my mouth with ill-mannered fingers,</div> <bR> <div> while my grandmother would settle</div> <div> into her sofa and say to my mother:</div> <bR> <div> "Evelyn, come sit by me."</div> <bR> <bR> <div> copyright 2003, by <B>Mary Agnes Dalrymple</B></div> <div> all rights reserved</div> <bR> <bR> <div> The following poem, "Ismail Waits," is from the "Other Voices" section of <B>Water Tender.  </B>It is based on a newspaper article about an earthquake that had occurred in Istanbul, Turkey.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Ismail Waits</B></div> <div> <B>        </B>Istanbul, Turkey.  August, 1999</div> <bR> <div> When I ask for my father</div> <div> the nurse who made the paper airplane turns</div> <div> away, busily straightening the sheets</div> <bR> <div> of my bed, her back a blank field of snow</div> <div> I want to walk across, making barefoot prints</div> <div> all the way home.</div> <bR> <div> I make the plane dive,</div> <div> sputtering engine noises from my mouth,</div> <div> bend the nose against bedspread hills.</div> <bR> <div> I try to tell her</div> <div> the raised folds of sheet are</div> <div> tilled garden rows, or sand dunes tall as</div> <div> my house used to be.</div> <bR> <div> My father would understand,</div> <div> if they would just bring him to me.</div> <bR> <div> He could explain to her what I mean.</div> <div> He could tell me why our house fell down</div> <div> and trapped me in a little space</div> <div> all alone.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> The poem, "Ismail Waits," originally appeared in <I>The Comstock Revie</I><I>w</I>,</div> <div> copyright 2003, by <B>Mary Agnes Dalrymple</B></div> <div> all rights reserved</div> <bR> <bR> <div> For more information about the book in which these poems appear, please go to <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Water Tender: A Memoir in Poems"><U>Water Tender: A Memoir in Poems</U></A></div> </td> </tr></table></body>