{"id":1424,"date":"2008-10-18T18:23:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-18T18:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=1424"},"modified":"2008-10-18T18:23:00","modified_gmt":"2008-10-18T18:23:00","slug":"two-poems-by-karen-kelsay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/two-poems-by-karen-kelsay\/","title":{"rendered":"Two poems by Karen Kelsay"},"content":{"rendered":"

I Believe<\/span>
 <\/span>

Mrs. Allen, why did you tell us<\/span>
second-graders that our guardian<\/span>
angels wouldn\u2019t follow us into<\/span>
a liquor store? I spent hours<\/span>
 <\/span>
wondering how to get M&M\u2019s<\/span>
from the corner market, where Baileys<\/span>
and Smirnoff bottles loomed<\/span>
like Satanic shadows<\/span>
over the register.<\/span>
 <\/span>
Huddled with my friend<\/span>
on the curb, we could see<\/span>
the candy close to the door \u2013<\/span>
 <\/span>
Of course one earthquake,<\/span>
and we\u2019d be on our own.<\/span>
 <\/span>
My father scoffed at religion \u2013<\/span>
we let him go in for us.<\/span>
 <\/span>

~ ~ ~ ~ ~<\/span>


Perfume<\/span>
 <\/span>

Your name was almost forgotten, <\/span>
smudged from my memory \u2013 until <\/span>
yesterday, when I overheard some women <\/span>
saying they liked you, and you were still <\/span>
available. Funny, thirty minutes later, I saw <\/span>
you waiting there, as if you knew I was coming. <\/span>
Certainly, with all those women pressing <\/span>
around you, I found myself growing more attentive. <\/span>
What would they say if they knew that long ago <\/span>
you were once mine? That I tossed you away? <\/span>
Your body looks more attractive that ever. <\/span>
I let you touch my wrist, just once more, before <\/span>
I leave. Then, slowly, I remember what it was <\/span>
about you that I hated: that clingy <\/span>
overpowering way of yours; how you <\/span>
nauseated me by the end of each day \u2013 <\/span>
You, horrid perfume.<\/span>
 <\/span>
 <\/span>

* Karen Kelsay grew up in Southern California, and loves writing poetry about the sea.<\/span> At the same time, she has written narrative, romantic, and fairy-theme poems that were created with other backgrounds and foreign lands in mind. Her first book \u2013 <\/span>Collected Poems by Karen Kelsay<\/span> \u2013 was published in June 2008, and a chapbook titled <\/span>A Fist of Roots<\/span> is scheduled to be published by Puddinghouse Press later this year.<\/span>

<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I Believe Mrs. Allen, why did you tell ussecond-graders that our guardianangels wouldn\u2019t follow us intoa liquor store? I spent hours wondering how to get M&M\u2019sfrom the corner market, where Baileysand Smirnoff bottles loomedlike Satanic shadowsover the register. Huddled with my friendon the curb, we could seethe candy close to the door \u2013 Of course one earthquake,and we\u2019d be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1424\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}