Supernova
When I am 12
at Camp 4 Winds
Westward Ho
we trek into the hills
on an overnight,
arrange our sleeping bags
around the fire
where my bed
ends up next to yours—
canoe instructor,
counselor-in-training.
After everyone
is asleep we murmur,
accompanied by
pops and sparks
as an ocean
blushes stars
above our heads and
nothing holds
me down, tells me
I can’t fall
headfirst into that
incandescence.
(Selected Poem, Ars Poetica 2017)
Meeting Annie Leibovitz
At Elliott Bay Bookstore
I stand in line for an hour,
wind through a forest
of pregnant bookcases.
When I finally summit
the iron-railed staircase
and approach the oak table
on the second floor balcony,
I hope to catch a glimpse
of the top of her head
as she signs her new book
of photographs, called Pilgrimage.
When it’s my turn,
she looks up—
hazel eyes behind
amber frames.
She smiles and says,
“Purple headband.”
I open my mouth slightly.
She points at my head
and smiles again—
“I like your headband.”
(Published Ars Poetica 2016)
Life Coaching Session With A False Prophet
Across that polished stone
tabletop at Cheshire Cat,
in that booth at the back,
you ask, “But is it enough?”
Later, you reach, grasp my
cool hand across granite
marked by a sepia cross.
It’s like in my dream–
my hand barely moves
against your warm skin.
You say, “I apologize.
I should have asked first.”
Secretly, I want you
to bring me jasmine tea,
your fears and hopes;
a hazel-eyed child.
I tell you about that Christmas
Eve at Tesuque Pueblo,
those deer dancers who
shape-shifted, became leaping stags.
Housesitting For The Widow
His ashes smell like
charcoal dust in
her living room
where I watch Titanic
on a September
afternoon, curtains
drawn.
Clocks tick
in the background
of every scene.
I watch prostrate
on pastel blue carpet,
palms cradling head,
2 yards from that
cedar box.
When my wilderness
guide ex-boyfriend arrives,
pulls his green Subaru
up to manicured
parking strip, he kisses
me in that dim parlor.
I protest. “Stop it,
I want to watch
this part!”
(All Images and Poems Copyright Lucy P. Dickinson 2015-2023. All applicable rights reserved.)