Teresa White

RE-HAB

Here, the only beauty
is a river which runs unclasped
through this old brick city
squat as a dried apple.

Where silver once ruled
rehabilitation is King.
Perhaps ex-convicts and child
molesters feel they’ve come home.

Halfway houses are inserted like
bridgework between the family
dwellings. Underfed, with lank
hair and ill-fitting clothes

these men are everywhere.
Here, where rain is scarce
and leaves dry ornaments upon
exhausted trees, they march

the twelve-step,
one defiant foot at a time.

Teresa White is a Seattle native now living in Spokane, Washington. Her work has most recently appeared in “Mannequin Envy,” “Eclectica,” and “The Arabesque Review.” She’s also been included in the anthology “In the Arms of Words, Poems for Disaster Relief” (Sherman Asher Publishng). Teresa has recently been nominated for her second Pushcart Prize. Her second full-length collection of poems was praised by Billy Collins when he said: “She is a poet who not only deserves but requires our attenton.” Titled “Gardenias for a Beast,” this is available online at Auntie’s Books.