Laura Hershey

SELF PORTRAIT

where motion meets gravity:
                                               a bump, a grunt

amid ripe petals' scent:
                                               buzz, sneeze

every hour, working or wasting:
                                               chime reminder

clay cup, worn warp shape:
                                               warm milky Earl Grey

between rule, regulation, and real life:
                                              hidden family, underground economy

for lavender shampoo, spicy tofu:
                                              hands borrowed, repaid

* * *

THOUSAND ISLAND

I wheel through the line, get my ticket punched --
a perk of dorm living, lunch
or dinner ready on schedule, cold or heated,
with no planning or shopping needed.
And the salad bar: carrots, cottage cheese,
lettuce, sprouts, bacon bits. All these
held together with orangeish, ketchup-sweet,
thick Thousand Island dressing. I greet
an acquaintance or two, then make
for an exit, go down a hall, take
a booth in the snack bar, face the wall,
read my history book, while
my aide feeds me my creamy
salad, small flattened bites, easy
to swallow. Later, in library or dorm, I'll be more
social, but that's not what meals are for.
For four years, I eat mostly apart, often silent,
making myself, at least a thousand times, an island.

Laura Hershey (1962-2010) was a Colorado-based poet and writer, activist and mother, with a physical disability, spinal muscular atrophy. Her poems recently appeared in Gertrude, Shakespeare's Monkey Review, Trillium Literary Journal, and in the anthologies Fire in the Soul: 100 Poems for Human Rights and Their Buoyant Bodies Respond. She held an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles. Spark Before Dark, her most recent poetry chapbook, is published by Finishing Line Press. Her website is http://www.laurahershey.com