WITHOUT

by Shirley J. Brewer

—Dancer Loses Foot in Boston Marathon Bombings

      from a newspaper headline

Smoke and glass,

hell sounds, her foot gone—

the amputation of a dream.

 

Just one day since

her toes painted

a promising pink.

 

She had asked for glitter;

severed sparkles

now rouged with blood.

 

They rush her off

without the limb that bore her

through every waltz, rumba, tango.

 

No time for farewells,

only a tourniquet

speaks for the ordinary

 

strapless-sandal-moments, a burst

of music—her footsteps light

on the safe and steady ballroom floor.

 

Shirley J. Brewer ( Baltimore , MD ) is a poet, educator, and workshop facilitator. Publication credits: The Cortland Review, Innisfree Poetry Journal, Pearl, Comstock Review, Loch Raven Review, Passager, and other journals. Her poetry books include A Little Breast Music, 2008, Passager Books and After Words, 2013, Apprentice House/Loyola University. M.A. Creative Writing/Publishing Arts, University of Baltimore.

SINKHOLE

by Shirley J. Brewer





            "Florida calls off search for man swallowed by sinkhole." 
            --CNN, March 3, 2012.


In the quiet hour before sleep,
he removes loose change
from pants pockets, sets his clock
for an early morning rise.

Sound engulfs him, a rush
like a waterfall of furniture.
He and his bedroom disappear
into the coffin-black earth.

Is this our worst fear—
to be swallowed or suffocated
or lost in a flash? Sudden death,
faster than birth. No time to digest.

Gone—his pennies, nickels, dimes,
the man himself buried too soon.
Grief, his brother’s cry. In some deep cave,
a clock ticking all our wasted hours.


Shirley J. Brewer ( Baltimore , MD ) is a poet, educator, and workshop facilitator. Publication credits: The Cortland Review, Innisfree Poetry Journal, Pearl, Comstock Review, Loch Raven Review, Passager, and other journals. Her poetry books include A Little Breast Music, 2008, Passager Books and After Words, 2013, Apprentice House/Loyola University. M.A. Creative Writing/Publishing Arts, University of Baltimore.

AFTER

by Shirley J. Brewer

                 — Want to help Newtown? Donations, yes. Teddy bears, no.

                         West Hartford News, December 26, 2012

A thousand brand new toys

fill this Newtown warehouse

stuffed with grief from far away.

In a house of loss, parents hug

one old teddy bear—

the fur loved off its face.

Shirley J. Brewer (Baltimore, MD) is a poet, educator, and workshop facilitator. Her poetry has appeared in The Cortland Review, Comstock Review, Passager, New Verse News, Innisfree Poetry Journal, and other publications. Her poetry chapbook, A Little Breast Music, was published in 2008 by Passager Books. A second book of poems, After Words, is forthcoming in early 2013 from Apprentice House/Loyola University.