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Title of Poem: "Oslo According to Nina"
Author: Lenore Weiss
Source: Public and Other Places (2003)
Rating: 4 laurels out of 5 laurels
Complete poem review available in print version of Muses Review.
Poet from California
Oslo According to Nina
by Lenore Weiss
Source: Public and Other Places (2003), p. 3
Press: Canyon Oaks Press
I was the one who brought them water to the table,
water poured from a blue pitcher
with lemons and ice cubes
not because it was hot in Oslo,
but because they were from the Middle East,
Every hour I entered the room, the windows covered
in white silk banners trimmed with a yellow braid
the banners were the gift of a clothing manufacturer
who wanted his name to appear on more than a dress label
My job was to walk up to each crystal glass
and see that the levels remained equal.
The men read their negotiations by the clock
"Only one more hour to lunch, boys,"
or, " No one pours water for me like you, Nina,"
which, yes, is a Russian name.
They were not being flirtatious so much as familiar.
We were all locked up in the room together
trying not to be prisoners.
Others brought them food: garbanzos
falafel, hummus. We made sure that the lamb was kosher.
They ate the same thing, anyway
men whose suits had been pressed
in the same desert together,
sitting around a table from the old library
which had been rebuilt during the War
where I first learned to put water,
water that arches from the lip of the pitcher to the glass
without frightening the dove
beating her wings against the window.
--------------------------
Copyright belongs to Lenore Weiss.
Published with permission from poet.
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Title of Poem: "A Woman With Two Vaginas"
Author: Lenore Weiss
Source: Public and Other Places (2003)
Rating: 3.7 laurels out of 5 laurels
Lenore Weiss's poem "A Woman With Two Vaginas". Available in print edition.
by Lenore Weiss
Source: Public And Other Places, (2003), p.23 Press: Canyon Oaks Press
1.
a woman with
two vaginas
remembers how
music used to float
through her window,
now she hears the soft
call of Vicadin
a mouth like a flute
she pants through her
fist, fools pain
into orgasm
Labor Day is time
to dance along
city blocks with sun
and moon
near water
smoke smells of
chicken grilled on
a stick, her spine
crumbles into
vanilla cookie
crumbs, whoops,
she stpes on them.
2.
with her parents,
they were a
family,
now she sleeps on
dirt where pebbles
rise, rubs herself
to sleep dreaming
plates of warm food
after she and her boyfriend
have sex, all
women have the
same standard issue,
why should we care
when winter comes,
if bare trees refuse
to hide orphans?
3.
not without breasts,
but vaginas
like Old McDonald's-
with an umm-umm here
and an umm-umm there
, e-i-e-i-ooooooooooo
down on the farm,
picnickers eat
buttered corn as
tributaries
run to fingerlings,
she proffers what
they cannot hold,
but not before
placing a gold
toe-ring on her left foot.
----------------------------
Copyright belongs to Lenore Weiss.
Published with permission from poet.
All rights reserved.