Fresh

by Joanne Gram

Image credit: Anna Hecker on Unsplash

Freshest of writers she

proudly displayed       bloody sheets

of poetry      proof     she was no longer

a virgin in her craft

Half her life along       her song

played in dark theaters     stayed in

borrowed sanctuaries      chosen

churches not averse to the genre

Her verses sifted     lifted     sold

or rejected outright      reasons untold

reaching diligently      for a suitable mold to fit

words      deemed fit        for print    presentation

The yes     the no     the keep on going

mention in a publication

50 words or less a bio    summarize

a life   leaving out the edit    the knife

An elder at last     a name     maybe heard

her song remembered       about a bird

phrases repeated aloud      recall burning loss

her outcry for children tossed      into a crowd

Decades circle      still circle

older      she holds      bloody pages

proof      she writes from the heart

the freshest of wounds

***

Joanne Gram

Joanne Gram styles herself as a renegade and sometimes vagabond poet in Lansing, Michigan. Her work encompasses a wide variety of forms and themes. She enjoys open mics and is published by various presses including Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, Pinky Thinker Press, Livina Press, One Page Poetry, American Writers Review, Tulip Tree Publishing, and others.