Three Poems
Wendy Vardaman
we were planting scraps in rows
wishing wisdom would grow
if not wisdom distraction
distraction
would do we were
willing to settle on
window or even
something though not
nothing nothingness
already everywhere
even window
scared us
we were tired of empty
of emptiness
so tired we were
planting scraps
I dream in knots
trying to slip a way out/through
escape tangle/twist
get back to the
get back to
get back
are you listening
undo
the mistakes
of course I/we/they are trying
of course I/we/they
didn’t mean to
not me
especially birds
and table legs toasters books
the pen that I’m holding
the virus everywhere
not a storyteller
not a mother
not a girl breathe breathe
not a wife breathe
not a soothsayer
words get more y t s i w t
what does the prodigal’s brother do
some life force is trying
doesn’t require us to
breathe
breathe
breathe
unthread exit
untwist retreat
untangle escape
unstep out
enter the prodigal
not poet
not word
not artist
not line
not teach
not soothe
in which I become a knot slipping myself out
which I guess means slipping out of myself
assemblage with shadow
first line the B left
spray painted on the garage
family history
the baby’s head emerging
with texture seven
hours back and for the last hour
to glue unravel
join pieces into things lost
wax cast shapes thick
lines leading off the boundless
scar traveling navel
to just below the breastbone
learning to cut scratch
color scrape though we can’t
lose track of the past
year searching for why
don’t feel so attached
to what I make which makes
it easier to add
to take away foot from your
from the mother’s neck
reminds me to work kinder
to weave weld rip
rubber mold some bits
to forehead maybe arm
or elbow to thin line
Wendy Vardaman, PhD, works as a web & digital media specialist. The author of three poetry collections, her creative practice includes editing, prose writing, printing, and book arts. She served as Madison, Wisconsin poet laureate from 2012 to 2015 and volunteers as a graphic designer. Wendy Vardaman is online at wendyvardaman.com.