Karen L. Lewis
THINGS I LEARNED LAST WEEK
after William Stafford
Squirrels with autumn bellies
can cry like wounded birds.
Add one dry leaf
to a pond masked in leaves --
the surface sways.
Telemarketing executives do not want
to be called by their employees
at home during dinner, either.
The origin of scapegoat:
during Yom Kippur the Israelites
cast the sins of the people
onto the head of a goat.
They drove this demonic Azazel
into the wilderness.
Ez 'ozel is the goat that escapes.
If I ever dream, I'd like it
to be of a grey kitten surfing
a river of milk.
She'd be the color of fear:
crushed gravel, storm cloud,
dove feather, drift wood, fish skin grey,
and will carry the fear away.
In the last year,
30 girls schools have been burned
to the ground in Afghanistan.
There are women in India
who have been aborting
female fetuses because men cannot
afford to pay dowries,
now there aren't enough girls left
to save
for, fewer girls still
who can abort.
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Date of Birth:
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1960
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Location:
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Born in Welland, Ontario, live in Clarence, New York
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Occupation:
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Teaching Artist for Just Buffalo Literary Center, contributing editor for Traffic East Magazine
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Email:
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Kleelew@aol.com
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Publications:
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The Buffalo News, The Writing Group Book: Creating and Sustaining a Successful Writing Group, Sacred Stones, Moondance, Slipstream, Poetry Motel, Artvoice, Gyspy Magazine, Iodine, The Niagara Current, etc.
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Book:
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The Shadow's Imprint: Poetic Reflections on Death (Blarney Stone Books)
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Awards:
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An anti-valentine poetry contest from Just Buffalo Literary Center
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Editor for:
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Traffic East Magazine
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