Lazarus
By Susie Meserve
When I joked we’ll name him Lazarus I meant perhaps he was a miracle, how he stopped growing and started again, confounding all the doctors who called to say, come in, come in, and when at the preschool gathering I wore that elastic-waist skirt, that was because I’d put on five pounds and some water with all the hormones, and good, how are you I breathed because I was raised to believe women should be optimists. And after he took his leave in a small sea of blood and I returned to the tall mast of myself I said not well, not at all well because two glasses of wine always catalyze honesty and we were desperate for him, our miracle, our Lazarus, our lucky ticket, our magnum opus, but I see now he would have been quite ordinary, and we might even have called him Lazarus.
Susie Meserve’s debut poetry collection, Little Prayers, won a Blue Light Book Award from Blue Light Press and was published in 2018. She is also the author of a chapbook, Faith. In 2021-2022, she was a City of Berkeley Civic Arts Program grantee.
Upcoming Events:
3/7-3/11 / AWP / Booth #1226
3/10 / AWP / Town Hall, Seattle, WA / Off Site. On Purpose. A poetry reading with NELLE, MER, & SWWIM / Doors open at 6:30 PM.
3/15 / The Betsy-South Beach, Miami Beach, FL / Poetry Reading with Suzanne Frischkorn and Susannah Winters Simpson
3/15 / The Betsy-South Beach, Miami Beach, FL / Meet the Artist Suzanne Frischkorn
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Oh my heart! Powerful