Amy Gerstler: Pick of the Week [ed. Terence Winch]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Lost in the Forest

 

I'd given up hope. Hadn't eaten in three

days. Resigned to being wolf meat...

when, unbelievably, I found myself  in

a clearing. Two goats with bells

round their necks stared at me:

their pupils like coin slots

in piggy banks. I could have gotten

the truth out of those two,

if goats spoke. I saw leeks

and radishes planted in rows;

wash billowing on a clothesline...

and the innocuous-looking cottage

in the woods with its lapping tongue

of a welcome mat slurped me in.

 

In the kitchen, a woman so old her sex

is barely discernible pours a glass

of fraudulent milk. I'm so hungry

my hand shakes. But what is this liquid?

"Drink up, sweetheart," she says,

and as I wipe the white mustache

off with the back of my hand:

"Atta girl." Have I stumbled

into the clutches of St. Somebody?

Who can tell. "You'll find I prevail here

in my own little kingdom," she says as

she leads me upstairs--her bony grip

on my arm a proclamation of ownership,

as though I've always been hers.

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Amy Gerstler is a writer living in Los Angeles. Index of Women, a book of her poems, will be published in April by Penguin Random House. She is currently collaborating with Steve Gunderson on a musical play. 

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Comments

[Clarinda harriss]

Oh this is marvelously terrifying. What will happen upstairs? I am desperate to know. I think a fine poem has a right to make you desperate with wondering.

[David Lehman]

A terrific poem. No surprise, there, and I would second what Clarissa Harriss says above. On February 4th, btw, we ran Aspen Matis's interview with Amy:

https://blog.bestamericanpoetry.com/the_best_american_poetry/2021/02/an-interview-with-amy-gerstler-by-aspen-matis.html

[Grace Cavalieri]

"I could have gotten

the truth out of those two,

if goats spoke. "

what a good mysterious poem with such a lapping tongue.

[Beth Joselow]

I've been a fan of Amy Gerstler for many years. Easy to see why with this exemplary poem.

[Gerald Fleming]

Love this piece. Allegory, sure, but enfoldment, danger, delicious irresolution. "... if goats spoke"!

[Jiwon Choi]

Did anyone else start hearing Bernadette Peters in their head, singing "Children Will Listen": "Careful the wish you make, wishes are children" vis a vis "her bony grip/on my arm a proclamation of ownership/as though I've always been hers."

What a pleasure to read this was.

[Jack Skelley]

"Fraudulent Milk" is my new fave band name.
Gorgeous teasing allegory, Amy!
And what's this about a musical?!

[Anne Harding Woodworth]

This is what hunger does. The poem starts out in past tense, when the speaker is still cogent. The clearing is real, or it just might be the beginning of hallucination. By the time, she leaves reality altogether, she has switched to present tense and sees a reflection of her emaciated self that leads her upstairs. The poem, beautifully crafted, disturbs and sings.

[Maureen Owen]

Wonderfully mysterious and eerie! And a perfect photo that keeps one in the dark woods.

[Dr. Earle Hitchner]

"Lost in the Forest" is a gem plucked by Terence from the poetic diadem worn by Amy Gerstler. Terence's unerring taste shows through his Gerstler selection, and Amy's unerring taste showed through her Winch selection for THE BEST AMERICAN POETRY 2010 volume, for which she was guest editor: "Objects of Spiritual Significance." Terence and Amy see in each other's work what we, as close readers, see in theirs: an abundance of talent. That's hardly a revelation, but it's helpful to say so once in a while.

[Terence Winch]

Thank you, my friend, for this characteristically generous
and perceptive comment.