The day I anticipated death
was cold and gray
the way a death scene
might be staged in a movie.
I left my house
wearing warm clothes
in anticipation of
how things would play out.
Not one to give in easily
last moment
I’d grabbed a black cashmere
scarf to loop fashionably.
Got some coffee then chose
a table where the wind was
least likely to pummel me
each time the door opened.
Near closing time my favorite
counter man offered me
free bagels to take home.
I declined. Because really
what was the point.
With it coming on fast
like a spike driven ear to ear
out the other side.
Susan Tepper is the author of nine published books of fiction and poetry. Her two most recent titles are CONFESS (poetry from Cervena Barva Press, 2020) and a road novel WHAT DRIVES MEN (Wilderness House Press, 2019) that was shortlisted at American Book Fest. Other honors and awards include eighteen Pushcart Prize Nominations, a Pulitzer Nomination by Cervena Barva Press for the novel ‘What May Have Been’ (re-written for adaptation as a stage play to open in NY next year), shortlisted in Zoetrope Contest for the Novel (2003), NPR’s Selected Shorts for ‘Deer’ published in American Letters & Commentary (ed. Anna Rabinowitz), Second Place Winner in StorySouth Million Writers Award, Best of 17 Years of Vestal Review and more. Tepper is a native New Yorker. www.susantepper.com
No comments:
Post a Comment