A cow is tied to a clothesline
under a willow tree,
the parameter of its life
described by two poles
and a rope.
Every time I spank the screen door
shut, flies explode like punctuation
on the air.
You sit inside reading Science
Fiction. All the characters have
names like Tom or Bill.
I look around the room
for my work. You think
I am making you a sweater
but I am knitting myself a home
without you or the flies
or a cow tied to a clothesline.
___
-- Teresa White
Teresa White is a recent Pushcart nominee. A native Seattlite presently living in eastern
Washington, she's been writing poetry since junior high
school and has over 90 poems published or upcoming in
various online journals such as: Avatar, Melic
Review, Octavo, Horsethief's Journal, La Petite Zine,
Blue Moon Review, Mefisto, Eclectica, and Savoy. A
book of 300 of her early poems, In What Furnace, was
published by Two Steps Publishing Co. two years ago
and she's expecting her second collection out in summer
2000. Teresa guest moderated Blueline forum in October '99
and is the featured poet in the Melic Review's millennium
issue.
