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| Ellaraine Lockie's sample poems: 1. Poem Background: The following poem,"Stiff," is the lead poem in my most recent chapbook, Finishing Lines. It has received awards in many contests, including the Willamette Writers' Kay Snow Award for Poetry, making more money than any other poem I've written, about $700--not that the reason I write is for money, but it's a nice side-benefit. This poem examines the physical realities of death from an unemotional viewpoint, and it shows how humor can be introduced in the most serious of situations. I was inspired to write it after I helped a nurse administer the after-death washing of the father of a friend. I didn't know him well, but the friend was dear. I was with them both at a rest home when he died. My friend and I held his hands while she talked lovingly to him as he passed. Immediately afterwards an attendant came into the room and said she needed help to prepare him for the mortuary pick-up. I couldn't see my friend having to do this, so I did--and it was an honor. Stiff by Ellaraine Lockie Source: Finishing Lines, 2005, p.1 The jaw drops after his last breath The nurse says hold it shut so it doesn't freeze fallen And the eyes she says Finger force them closed Easier on the relatives A living look As though he's resting in his beloved rose garden We wrestle with the ring Second-skin stuck on finger Already curled in death claw Rock hard but glass fragile I wonder if it breaks would blood still spurt Not so nice for the relatives We wash private parts with warm water Why warm I wonder on a cold cadaver The relatives won't know And they won't see the stiffened organ Old age flaccidity dilated in death I wonder do I hold that down too The nurse says maybe he's too lifelike now But not alive enough for the daughter Who stares out the window At the rose garden ***Previously published in Mad Poets Review --------------------------------------------------- 2. Poem Inspiration: The following poem is from a collection I'm writing on travel called "Border Lines". It was previously published in The Mississippi Review. May 14, 2004 The day "the New Zealand Herald" ran front-page coverage of Iraq prisoners' abuse by American soldiers. Returning from a celebration with the Maoris The New Zealand tour bus driver asks the international travelers to sing a song from their countries He hands his microphone to a British bloke Who sings Swing Low Sweet Chariot Passengers applaud An Indian woman sings an exotic serenade in her native language Clapping is long and hard An Irish lad delivers the ballad Danny Boy humming the high parts Appreciative applause An American woman with the best voice yet proudly begins America the Beautiful But she stops short after "crown thy good with brotherhood" A silence ensues that erases all borders She begins again with I've Been Working on the Railroad It's not in her range and she falters with the words But they forgive her with ferocious applause ---------------------------------------- 3. The following poem is from a collection of love-gone-wrong poems. It was previously published in the Chiron Review. Running on Empty by Ellaraine Lockie My latest addiction is Wrigley's Polar Ice I unwrap all fifteen pieces from the package Lay them on the passenger seat like a long line of cocaine Or Salem substitutes during the 160 Montana miles ahead Or subtle similes aside an endeavor to undo the habit of you But the bumps and ruts in the gravel road have their way with the Wrigleys And when I reach over for a fix I find again the emptiness I try to feed -------------------------------------- 4. Poem Background. I relate personally to the following poem, "Liberation." It's an example of how an intensely personal subject matter can be brought out of journal mode and into a poem that other people might find interesting. This was accomplished by using poetic devices and by bringing the world into the poem. Writing "Liberation" was terrifically therapeutic for me. I was emerging from a very bleak time in my life, thus the cracking eggshell extended metaphor. I made it the last poem in Finishing Lines (which examines the endings of many different things, people, animals, places, relationships and seasons of life) because like many endings, "Liberation" marks a beginning. Liberation by Ellaraine Lockie Source: Finishing Lines, 2005, p.46 Exhilarating energy Incredible calm Belly laughs: July Fourth explosions Foreign for four menopausal years Now come in short bursts Long enough to nerve- twitch me active After hibernation in my selfish eggshell I hatch slowly Each day cracking lost wonders Ice cream and oatmeal for breakfast English for Chinese neighbors Lunch with an editor An afternoon rest home visit A cat-in-heat night Hello sunshine! I'm 54 years old at Disneyland With the rest of my life to take rides I follow famous sisters through Tomorrow Land At 60 Colette opened a beauty salon in Paris Jackie O became a book editor Margaret Meade said The most creative force in the world is a menopausal woman with zest You haven't seen anything yet Margaret Meade ------------------------------ 5. The following poem is a love poem about my home state and was previously published in Sweet Annie and Sweet Pea Review. Personal Ad by Ellaraine Lockie Montana woman wants musician who will set to song the melody of a meadowlark The metronome beat of background crickets Hushed hum from grasshoppers Flap of grass-green pheasant wings Golden wheat whispering in the wind Whoosh of cottonwood trees when fluff falls like ill-timed snow Antelope hooves hitting the ground in ancient and on-going rumble Rain that staccatos off galvanized grain bins Thunder applauding plentiful crops The sustained rest before sunrise preceding the symphony of another summer day on the plains Call (406) MON-TANA ---------------------------- 6. The following poem is from a collection of love-gone-wrong poems. It was previously published in the Poetry Life (England). Defying Gravity by Ellaraine Lockie If falling in love is a feather's descent with a downy drift landing Or a swimmer's free-fall dive into a warm deep pool Then falling out must be a bird shot from the sky Blood and guts feathering the ground Or an airplane's fatal plunge Fragmented parts ocean dispersed I fell through the cracks of a chipped marriage Carried on an avalanche that accrued momentum over months Helpless I hit your heat wave Hovered over hot cement Poised indecision position Waiting for arms to open and block my fall Arms that crossed over shoulders that shrugged As I crash landed on concrete Ribs around my heart bruised but not broken Temperamental ties hanging loose Liberation severing the slack Decree of gravity defied when I float free and easy Light without your weight Back into the air pocket of possibilities -------------------------------- Editor's note: All poems are copyrighted to Ellaraine Lockie. |
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