Pelona

Hair litters the floor like a casualty count

No man calls her sweetheart
in her gentleman’s trousers & wingtips

determination wears heels bone thin

No longer hungry,
her feet start to slip in her shoes

Monkeys & black cats
rest on her shoulders
She writes,
Pelona has not got me.

After he leaves
her color returns
she paints as she always has
small hands
precise strokes
brush sets on canvas-
a white moth dance

Her eyes rage still
scissors cradled by unkempt brows
 

Copyright 1998, Brando J. Rogers
 
Brando J. Rogers is a native Nebraskan who proudly calls the Bay Area home.  This spring, she received first prize for her poem, "After Cather," in St. Mary’s (College of CA) first national poetry prize, chosen by Joshua Clover.  A visual artist as well as a poet, Brandy, created the cover art for William Dickey’s, The Education of Desire, published by Wesleyan University Press.

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