After Leah Umansky

by Maria Fischer

Image credit: Ivy Aralia Nizar on Unsplash

in love             in echo in armor 

starts Leah Umansky’s poem, 

the one that ends with 

These days, I think I am smiling, even when I’m not. 

that’s teaching 

that’s this burnout 

a hook             a link               a braid 

Unbraiding 

Because I’m so God damned tired 

that I remember a time in teacher training 

when I lived with a less adult  

an assertion                            a belonging 

but an anger, as well, that I had to pursue the education 

while he got to be the artist. 

Leah Umansky ends with 

Everything is a lesson. 

Everything is okay. 

and what can I say? 

I weigh my success not in the pay 

the cut away                the passageway            

the divorcee                but 

The idea that in love, in echo, in armor, I will have my artist’s way. 

***

Maria Fischer

Maria Fischer is a mom of five, stepmom of two, and grandmother of two. She has a husband, as well, to help her wade through that madness. She teaches English at Joliet Catholic Academy and Adult ESL at both Joliet Junior College and Prairie State College. Are you sensing a theme here? She can be reached at mfischer@jjc.edu to discuss both being stressed and being satisfied.