“Baring Gifts”

She’s Marie Barone—on steroids       

baring gifts of guilt       

wrapped in gilded foil   

dripping honeyed compliments   

sprinkled with ground glass   

leaving you bleeding on the inside   

With a smile she blames you for her cruelty   

twisting her tales   

defending her intrusions   

she belittles you as she praises you   

tearing you down to control you   

with gossip she snatches away your privacy   

claiming she only acts with love   

Lock your doors   

Don’t let her in   

Copyright 2011 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

“Ghost”

Time pauses   

            when I dream of you   

                        Reversing—   

                                    pulling me back through years   

            until I hear   

                        your booming laughter ricochet     

            You appear before me   

            I embrace your solidity   

                        catch a whiff of Old Spice,   

                                    pipe tobacco   

            My tiny hand clutches yours   

            I am your child   

                       again   

                                    looking up into your deep brown eyes   

            You swing me up   

                        high onto your shoulders   

            I pat your chin—rough, unshaven   

                        Suddenly   

                                    We stand in my front yard   

                                                hugging goodbyes   

                                                promising another visit   

            Plans cancelled by death   

Time pauses   

            when I dream of you   

                        Reversing—   

                                    pulling me back through years   

            until I stand   

                        alone in the night   

            Suffering under the weight of grief   

            Conjuring you with my heartbreak   

                        your voice rises with enthusiasm   

                                    strengthens with determination     

            We argue politics   

            We agree to disagree   

                        again  

                                    looking into your deep brown eyes    

            You vanish   

                        leaving me sorrowful   

            Regretting silly squabbles   

                        Suddenly   

                                    I stand alone   

                                                searching for you     

                                                listening for your essence   

            Knowing you are gone forever   

Copyright 2011 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

“Insomnia”

He inters uninvited, a shadow cast across my bed   

He lurks just beyond my vision   

His onion breath jars me to alertness, yanking me out of sleep   

He lays heavy-limbed next to me   

He pins me under his arm, making it impossible to breathe   

His bristled beard rubs my shoulder raw   

In panic, I pull away   

I kick my feet free of the binding blankets   

I elbow him in the chest, desperate for escape   

Heart racing, I bolt from the bed to see him sneer in pleasure   

His victory rests in my wakefulness   

He silently slips from my bed when I turn on the light   

In triumph, he vanishes, a shadow in the night   

Copyright 2011 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

“Prayer”

Compassionate Mari       

            the land dies under summer’s cruelty   

            crops wither, leaf and fruit suffer       

            grasses scorch and burn   

    springs expose their bedrock     

    rivers recede, ponds evaporate to mist     

            livestock and wildlife die   

Hear my prayer   

 Gentle Mari   

            cry softly upon the Earth    

            soak our land with mercy   

            wash away our dust of prideful disbelief    

            shower kindness upon the fields               

            nourish our hopes with your grace   

 Copyright 2011 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

“Hemming—No Hawing”

    A thread at the hem   

    pulled by fretting fingers out of carelessness   

    offered little resistance   

    as it reversed the zigzag    

    separating what was once unified   

    the pants are not ruined   

    no need for tossing them aside   

    a temporary repair—   

    tape running around the edge   

    gives a false sense of completeness   

    the illusion of security   

    buying only a little time   

    for tape can’t get wet    

    or resist heat   

    someone must run a new thread   

    through the nearly invisible eye of the needle   

    a steady hand and mind   

    focused upon stitching, repairing   

    mending what’s been rent    

Copyright 2011 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

“Worst Case Scenario”

weakness tangles within rigidity   

and involuntary movement demands thought and discipline   

requiring repetition and obsession to manage endless days   

even as neurons decay 

 

no hope    

only loss crossed off the calendar day-by-day

  

the fight for dignity fatigues    

an unbearable weight constricting life   

she is Prometheus, bound   

punished for bringing enlightenment    

tortured in mind and body until eternity   

speech struggles against silence   

and suddenly words flee   

what is this?   

confusion adds to the overload   

helplessly caught in disintegration   

too much misplaced   

not enough forgotten   

gone too soon   

or not soon enough   

Mom and my sister on Mom's 81st birthday!

Copyright 2011 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

“In the Mirror”

softness     

gentles her face   

soothes away the old stress-etched lines   

            from her once pursed lips   

now she smiles   

radiant and relaxed   

her New Life lends   

            boldness to her laugh   

            confidence to her sensuality   

a glint of knowledge sparks mischief in her eyes   

experience strengthens her   

            steel wrapped in cotton   

subtle in her curves   

strong in her possibilities   

Copyright 2011 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman