A Hole in My Heart the Size of a Postage Stamp
By Deborah Hauser
It's #tbt! Enjoy this great one from SWWIM Every Day's archives!
Dear Sir/Dear Parental Unit/No/Dear Sperm Donor/No/Dear Male Relative/Stop/Dear old Dad/how many Our Fathers must I say to make you appear/like Beetlejuice/why summon evil spirits/how to apportion blame/to an empty chair/MIA/absentee parent/you were tricked/ trapped/ torn/she turned you/in/to the Draft Board/she was daft/ I became deft/at avoiding her blows/I never learned/how/ to apply a tourniquet properly/the Girl Scouts don’t award patches/for the survival skills I needed/she needled/ me/ endlessly/I wrote postcards in my head/having a splendid time/not/wish you were here/to stop the beatings/brace yourself/for stormy weather/there’s a cold front moving in/ to the guest room/you were my imaginary friend/perhaps you wrote me too/invisible ink letters/never delivered/coded messages/intercepted/by enemy hands/Hansel & Gretel/ my grim role models/my plastic red raincoat/she sent me out/for milk and bread/I took the long way/home/longed to be/lost/if I came back too late she locked me out/ always on the lookout/for something/to cling/to/a sharp- toothed wolf/clever enough/to swallow me/whole.
Deborah Hauser is the Poet Laureate of Suffolk County (2023-2025) and author of Ennui: From the Diagnostic and Statistical Field Guide of Feminine Disorders (Finishing Line Press). Her poems and book reviews have been published in Ms. Magazine, Women’s Review of Books, Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, Bellevue Literary Review, and Calyx. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee. Her work explores the intersection of poetry and activism. She has taught literature and writing at Stony Brook University and Suffolk County Community College. She leads a double life on Long Island where she works in the insurance industry.
04/10 / Poetry Reading and Conversation with visiting poet-in-residence Chloe Martinez and local poet Ximena Gómez / The BBar at The Betsy-South Beach, Miami Beach, FL / Live and Live-Streamed on Instagram Live/Facebook Live at @swwimmiami / 7-8:30 pm EST / Free
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This poem devastated me. Its rhyme, pace, and wordplay contribute to its ultimate impact. So good! It's that poem I can't wait to share with students, hear them in awe of it too.