Four Poems

by Janlori Goldman

Ode to Stretchmarks

Elegy for your Breasts

Amber Cloud

Spring Cleaning

Juniper,!holly,!boxwood—!they!never!let!go!of!prickly!green,!! ! slouch!against!the!house,!sharp3tongued!and!stolid.!! Who!planted!these!yard!brats?!Why!not!camellia,!! ! she!too!never!drops!her!leaves!but!embarrasses!! with!showy!bloom.!Let’s!rip!out!Mr.!Boxwood,! ! uproot!him!for!lack!of!imagination,!!! his!bureaucrat’s!way!of!going!along,!! ! same!attitude!every!day,!same!complaint,!! ! never!a!budge!or!bend!of!the!rules.!!! ! For!the!daisy’s!sake,!we’ll!donate!the!shrubs!! to!the!county!clerk’s!office,!that!low!brick!enforcer.!!! ! In!this!time!of!shedding!and!rebud,!! when!everything!else!is!full!of!effort,!! ! let’s!free!the!house,!use!the!front!door.!

Janlori Goldman‘s poem “At the Cubbyhole Bar” was chosen by Gerald Stern for the Raynes Prize. Janlori co-edits “The Wide Shore: A Journal of Global Women’s Poetry,” www.thewideshore.org. She teaches at Columbia University and is a writing mentor to cancer survivors at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Published Spring 2015