{"id":2960,"date":"2022-01-04T15:51:12","date_gmt":"2022-01-04T23:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/?p=2960"},"modified":"2024-12-17T09:31:11","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T17:31:11","slug":"three-poems-by-elizabeth-austen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/three-poems-by-elizabeth-austen\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Poems by Elizabeth Austen"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"issue62\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Found in\u00a0Willow Springs 62<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to Author Profile<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Three Poems by Elizabeth Austen<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Her, at Two<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes a bone<\/p>\n\n\n\n

at the tender back of the throat<\/p>\n\n\n\n

requires a wracking, indelicate<\/p>\n\n\n\n

cough to survive it. Sometimes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a bone is plucked — still<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

fully fleshed —<\/p>\n\n\n\n

from the platter and brandished<\/p>\n\n\n\n

like a baton, a magician’s wand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She transfixes every guest<\/p>\n\n\n\n

gluttonous tyrant<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

in miniature. Is this how we all<\/p>\n\n\n\n

began, thrilled to hold the meat<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in our tiny fists, sure<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the feast was laid for us<\/p>\n\n\n\n

alone? Soon she will want<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

what she cannot reach<\/p>\n\n\n\n

will be told it’s not for her<\/p>\n\n\n\n

that’s not ladylike<\/p>\n\n\n\n

wipe your fingers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

put down the bone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, let her be lucky<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and rare, let it be years<\/p>\n\n\n\n

before her gender is learned<\/p>\n\n\n\n

as limitation, a fence<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to circumscribe her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Lost  Sainthood<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

because when the Virgin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

appeared she said nothing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

just waved    less hello<\/em> than<\/p>\n\n\n\n

come this way<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

a third-grade girl   a faith-fevered<\/p>\n\n\n\n

fervently Catholic girl   I longed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

for sainthood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I pledged my unknown<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ungovernable body<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

consecrated my virginity to Hers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

but already I knew<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I burned<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

before knowledge before<\/p>\n\n\n\n

even the barest mechanics<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

before the trancelike tidal pull<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of sweat and flesh<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I burned I burned<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and already<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I knew<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was not good    for all my hot<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

true tears when the host<\/p>\n\n\n\n

was raised as Jesus’ flesh<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

for all my prayers and carefully<\/p>\n\n\n\n

counted rosary beads I knew<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I burned I burned<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What We Would Forget<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ties us to the past<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and, like roots beneath pavement, cracks<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

the  surface we would pass across,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

though the tree lies some distance away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once heaved up and split<\/p>\n\n\n\n

how can the path be smoothed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

unless that <\/em>living <\/em>thing — we must remember –\u00ad<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

is uprooted?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For these things <\/em>sometimes <\/em>happen. <\/em>Though<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the details differ, ours is not a unique story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if, as my lover enters me, my brother’s<\/p>\n\n\n\n

face intrudes, what am I to do<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

but open my eyes and name this man<\/p>\n\n\n\n

who is not my brother, name myself, who am not<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

that girl, and continue the embrace<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of these our bodies, now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

         No p<\/em>e<\/em>rcep<\/em>tion <\/em>comes <\/em>amiss —<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

my senses learned their scope<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in that child-body. Who <\/em>was <\/em>I th<\/em>en?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what of that girl lives tonight<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in my skin? Do I carry her<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

always about me, ready to rise<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and bind the present — this touch —<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

to the past? Will I ever say<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the thongs <\/em>are burst <\/em>that the dead <\/em>tied?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lin<\/em>e<\/em>s in <\/em>italics <\/em>are from Virginia Woolf’s writings, as taken <\/em>from <\/em>Jocelyn <\/em>Clark<\/em>e<\/em>‘s <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

play <\/em>Room.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":23834,"featured_media":636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpo365_audiences":[],"wpo365_private":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2960"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23834"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2960"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37965,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2960\/revisions\/37965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}