Lee Upton

Maurice Kilwein Guevara

Adriana DiGennaro

Elizabeth Volpe

Lyn Lifshin

Simon Perchik

Gary Charles Wilkens

Dorianne Laux

In the Shell of a City

a summer white dress
hangs in a second story
room framed by green
shutters on an open
window as if someone
had planned to wear it,
as if someone soon will
return to restart a new
life suspended. Or,
maybe not.

Items Carried out Take on New Weight

the waters raced into one
woman's home so quickly
she was forced to flee with
nothing but what she was
wearing. After she and ten
members of her extended
family took refuge in the
convention center down
town, she was grateful to
be on dry land but quickly
realized they had another
problem: aid workers
were giving out water and
food but there wasn't any
thing for her infant niece.
The only thing she had
that she thought might be
of value was the silver
necklace she was wearing
so she wandered around
the convention center for
hours trying to trade it
for milk. There were
no takers.

Lyn Lifshin's recent books are Another Woman Who Looks Like Me from Black Sparrow at David Godine and The Licorice Daughter: My Year With Ruffian from Texas Review Press. She has published over 120 books and chapboooks and edited four anthologies of women's writing including Tangled Vines: A Collection of Mother and Daughter Poems, in print 20 years. Her website is http://www.lynlifshin.com.

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