Elegy (in process)
I remember myself and my open legs. Silk lingerie to dance in. I remember that the grasses swayed too, the olives and wheat murmuring toward the sky.
Two Canadian Geese are honking healing tongues, similar to my legs or oblivion. Now is the future and the grasses already knew it.
I remember my pistil, its gestures. I know that, to unbutton me asks for embracing and belly.
The golden orb-weaving spider, the city dweller with larger ovaries. I remember the silk and the shudder of myself. The facets
with my best dress and Italian shoes, and in the audience listening to Bach. The bite. I begged for.
Up Above, The Angels For 'Annah Sobelman
In her window when death approaches, we sing of Prokofiev Prokofiev.
Braid my hair, and I say I am, the brush a nest of blond evidence, this afternoon, feeding her
poetry from my full mouth into hers and July, pulled draperies day after day
I watch her, delicate fingers on piano keys, surrounded by #3 Piano Concerto by her ear, her shoulder,
she says, I’m dying! breathing herself to slumber, we will go to Florence and
from her window among the shops with scarves, gold, and coo of pigeons, and handsome men, we will sing
to each other our distinct breath blown out over everything.
Catherine Strisik is a poet and co-editor of the online journal, Taos Journal of International Poetry & Art. She is the author of the poetry collections, The Mistress (3: A Taos Press, 2016) which was awarded the New Mexico/AZ Book Award for Poetry 2017; Thousand-Cricket Song (Plain View Press 2010, 2016); Insectum Gravitis which recently placed as finalist for the Frontier Poetry Chapbook Award; and manuscript-in-progress, Caterina. Active in the Taos poetry community for over 35 years, she recently was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Numerous publications include Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Drunken Boat, Connotation Press: An Online Artifact, Tusculum Review, and Poet Lore. Strisik has received grants, honors and prizes from CutThroat, Peregrine, and Comstock Review, The Southwest Literary Center, The Puffin Foundation, as well as residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, Truchas Peaks Place, and Christ in the Desert Monastery. She teaches both group and private poetry workshops in northern New Mexico. For more information, visit: www.cathystrisik.com.