Melissa Studdard: Pick of the Week [ed. Terence Winch]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

photo by Alexis Rhone Fancher

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A Little Bit Rain

 

It seemed this bicycle was faster

when I first started. Now the afterlife

is gaining on me, and every billboard I pass

 

has the same five words. I know

you’d like to know what they say, but

if you’re ever going to build up those quads,

 

you’ll need to enter this race yourself.

I even hired the Rockettes to adorn the finish line

with their legs. All for you. That’s how much

 

I love you. The moon used to be yellow,

but I painted it green for your green-loving eyes,

then left a pack of cigarettes and two aspirin

 

on the nightstand. Maybe don’t get so drunk

next time, okay? I like it when you do that thing

with your tongue. It makes me want to get

 

matching tattoos. We could translate our bodies

into a new language. Your mouth a little

bit summer. My mouth a little bit rain. 

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Melissa Studdard’s most recent poetry collection is Dear Selection Committee. Her work has been featured by PBS, NPR, The New York Times, Ms. Magazine, and The Guardian and has garnered awards such as The Penn Review Poetry Prize, the Tom Howard Prize, and the Lucille Medwick Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America.

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                                     Samantha Thompson, Back stage--Radio City Rockettes, oil on canvas, 2022

Comments

[Grace Cavalieri]

so energizing! so sparkling!

[Clarinda]

Wot larks, as joe Gargery says in great expectations! This larky poem is miscdef about great expectations!!

[Kelli Russell Agodon]

Love this one!

Especially this-- "the afterlife/is gaining on me"

[lally]

this poem and post are perfection

[Christopher Theofanidis]

Quintessential Studdard! Fantastic and fantastical.
And thanks for the reminder to enter the race in delight!

[Lois P Jones]

This is a forever poem. The love within outruns anything in its path.

[David Lehman]

Wonderful art, as usual, and here's to the Rockettes and the five words that appear on every billboard along the way to the afterlife in a new language and mutual tatoos. In my own case the billboards have six words: "Are you dying for a smoke?"

[Don Berger]

Smart, wonderful, whimsical poem! Another great pick Terence! And Melissa, if you're out there, I'm so glad I've found your work through this site, and will certainly look for more!

[Terence Winch]

Don: Thanks for the comment, mon ami.

[Susan Campbell]

Terrific poem!

[Martin Stannard]

Excellent! Yes, "the afterlife is gaining on me" is one of those 'I wish I'd written that' things . . . Brilliant!

[Melissa Studdard]

Don, yes, I'm here and so very grateful to all of you for these wonderful comments and to Terence and David for sharing the poem. Thanks to Conduit too for first publishing "A Little Bit Rain." Good luck in the race, everyone! I know we can win. ;)

[Cindy Sostchen-Hochman]

Melissa Studdard ROCKS!

[Jack Skelley]

lovely and loving !!!!