Iowa Writes
LEAH WALLER Birth of a Poem
Poetry met me under a willow tree on the cuffs of an Iowa river. I was scared but he kissed my wrists and told me that everything would be alright. He removed my clothes slowly, a sock, then a sleeve. So smooth I didn't know I was naked until the March breeze laughed across my back. I reached for something to cover myself but everything I grabbed was just more and more of him.
Poetry met me under a willow tree on the cuffs of an Iowa river. I was scared but he kissed my wrists and told me that everything would be alright. He removed my clothes slowly, a sock, then a sleeve. So smooth I didn't know I was naked until the March breeze laughed across my back. I reached for something to cover myself but everything I grabbed was just more and more of him. I had no choice but to embrace him, lest I expose my nakedness any longer. He was warm, light, tender, and romantic. So many kinds of delicious I thought I should explode. I spun, ran, ducked and dipped in and out of reality. Kissing the bends and joints of my sudden desire. Then I opened my eyes and he was gone. My mother told me I was foolish to lie with a lover who held thousands of hearts. "Did you think he would stop for you?" she asked. My soul began to grow round and plump over the next nine mouths. I had decided to put it up for adoption when it was born. I had no job and no house after all, I could never support such a thing. It was a rainy morning when the writing contractions began. Closer and closer together, shorter and shorter lines. I felt pain but I would not take drugs. Pleasure, though I screamed. Suddenly the tiny thing burst out caught by the gloved white hands of the page. My small bloody poem, coughing and gasping desperately for life. I stared down at it. Into the large blue eyes of poetry and I knew in every batten of my being that this scroll this flesh of my flesh was the answer to life.
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About Iowa Writes
Since 2006, Iowa Writes has featured the work of Iowa-identified writers (whether they have Iowa roots or live here now) and work published by Iowa journals and publishers on The Daily Palette. Iowa Writes features poetry, fiction, or nonfiction twice a week on the Palette.
In November of 2008, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated Iowa City, Iowa, the world's third City of Literature, making the community part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.
Iowa City has joined Edinburgh, Scotland and Melbourne, Australia as UNESCO Cities of Literature.
Find out more about submitting by contacting iowa-writes@uiowa.edu
LEAH WALLER Leah is the author of the poetic work Under The Cedar Tree and was a featured author in This Enduring Gift. She currently resides in her hometown of Fairfield, Iowa, where she enjoys camping, sushi, rich morning coffee and plans to attend graduate school for poetry next fall. www.thisenduringgift.com |