Rose Mary Boehm- Three Poems

A marriage of words

or how two become one

May two be joined together

and form a closed-compound word.

Don’t change the appearance.

Simply delete the space.

Beware of hyphens.

Don’t let them trick you

into believing they lessen

the strength of the partnership.

As some women prefer

hyphenated names,

some words feel more

comfortable with a little extra

space, some even prefer

open relationships. They

will still function as one.

Well-known, bright-red

airplanes are mentioned

in newspapers. Over all,

the institution is in tumult.

Let us show compound words

the respect they deserve.

The Jigger Variations

I

On the right track but not streamlined.

You were wiping imaginary sweat

from a brow permanently furrowed.

Should have resisted the temptation.

Marriage a metonym for failure.

II

Buried your head in my flesh,

a hungry beast that feeds on warm,

pulsing blood, prepared to loose

its life in return for sustenance.

III

You were warming your hands over an open fire

down by the embankment.

Your cup—measureless measure.

The night was cold, the fire uneasy.

Hubble bubble.

IV

Sails set. No doubting the direction.

Storms subsided.

A deep breath puts distance between

acute distress and foreboding.

Spray. Salt in my eyes.

Damage control

Four damaged dolls

and I lived in my house.

My mother knew, but

I failed to find my affliction.

There were five damaged

lovers in my life. I failed to see

how loving could have

cut them so deeply.

My children brought each

a piece of me into this world

and, in despair, changed into toads.

I often squat in the mud by the pond

learning a new way to speak

with my daughters.

Bio:
A German-born UK national, Rose Mary Boehm lives and works in Lima, Peru. Author of two novels and a full-length poetry collection (TANGENTS) published in 2011 in the UK, well over 100 of her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in a good two dozen US poetry reviews as well as some print anthologies, and Diane Lockward’s The Crafty Poet. She won third price in in the 2009 Margaret Reid Poetry Contest for Traditional Verse (US), was semi-finalist in the Naugatuck poetry contest 2012/13 and has been a finalist in several Goodreads poetry contests, winning it in October 2014; a new poetry collection is earmarked for publication in 2016 the US.