Louise Robertson
Gossip
You know, half the time,
people are skimming your
poems for gossip – like it were a bell chiming.
Old poems are tumbleweed
for this kind of thing. But people look
anyway, asking, is this a thistle,
purple-headed and seeking
more air? Is this a mirror? Is this a bat,
awake at dusk, hung on
his perch? Sometimes,
the flowers soften
and they are, famously, just soft flowers.
Louise Robertson is widely published (e.g., Crack the Spine, Crab Fat Magazine, Pudding House, and more) and has a full-length book of poetry, The Naming Of (2015, Brick Cave Media). She helps run the Writers’ Block Poetry Night, gives writing workshops, and is co-founder and co-organizer of the Ohio MeatGrinder Poetry Slam. She’s raising two kids who are better than she is already and codes for money. She has won awards – but they were a long time ago as were her degrees (BA Oberlin College, MFA George Mason University). Also, someone once said about her that, underneath it all, she is kind.
The Mantle 