by Susan Rich
If there were an orthodox religion that believed
in floating houses, I would have joined right then
in the middle of my never-ending bowl of oatmeal.
I saw it through our kitchen window—
roofline, chimney, a cocoa puff-colored dream—
the house moving like a cat up Allston Street.
*
The gears clicked like a silent movie
in my head. Evidence that miracles
did exist—a world beyond the known.
Where might the house be bound for? Could I go, too?
Another ghostly history—a phantom
disappearing on the back of a platform truck.
*
I saw the real turn surreal—
a neighbor’s house pulled casually away.
What I’d been taught was rooted
could uproot—despite the spirit-level tool.
An exhilaration to my small self
who could never learn how to stay put.
*
Was this the origin of my world travel—
or the tragedy of a 1960’s mother,
with girls I knew from hide and seek?
A family, like mine, with just a light switch left.
Empty streets, with no one brave enough
to stand and wave good-bye.
*
What did my mother know that she didn’t
tell me? My mother rolling out her daily painkillers,
her pursed-lip secrecy? But that October day
in unfettered light—this gift—not crushing her
daughter’s delight on an ordinary Wednesday—
a few minutes before noon.
Susan Rich is the author of six collections of poetry and co-editor of two prose anthologies. Her most recent poetry books include Blue Atlas (Red Hen Press) and Gallery of Postcards and Maps: New and Selected Poems (Salmon Poetry). Along with Kelli Russell Agodon, she co-edited Demystifying the Manuscript: Creating a Book of Poems (Two Sylvias Press) and with Brian Turner, she co-edited The Strangest of Theatres: Poets Crossing Borders (Poetry Foundation). Susan’s previous poetry books include Cloud Pharmacy, The Alchemist’s Kitchen, Cures Include Travel, and The Cartographer’s Tongue–Poems of the World—winner of the PEN USA Award. A recipient of the Times Literary Supplement Award, and Fulbright Fellowship, Rich’s poems appear in the Harvard Review, New England Review, Ploughshares, Poetry Northwest, and elsewhere. She lives and writes in Seattle, WA.
Emerge Literary Journal 