writers studio

Maine to Georgia

by Alice Lesnick, 2012

you know this game

you are in a new place  

there’s a lull and you look around, a little up the street line  

could I live here?  the answer must always be yes

yes in a rented room in bangor, pa

where dad and uncle irving went to live during the depression

and a kite was ruined before little brother could fly it

no work for grandfather in nyc, grandma wrote her mother every day to testify

that life went on

even there

yes in downtown seattle

where you sashayed first, a loaf of bread under each arm

and a pack of cigarettes in your sexy jeans

the girl ben franklin as a young anarchist no date to keep

no one else’s time either

yes along the AT a drowsy summer day by pen mar park

where the pavillion (a pavillion!) is already set up for a wedding