Undertow


I expected my father's death
to draw the sea to my feet,
the water threatening to bear me
away with it--not mother's.
Our voices were constant coils
of disagreement; my hair was too long.
I was too thin. My clothes were too tight.
My mish-mash of dishes would never do
if the relatives came down for Christmas.
I lived 'in sin' with a man, traveled with him,
tossed away my bra to her mortification.
After my knees buckled
and this illness pinned me to my bed of thorns,
the core of metal between us softened,
became a pillow to rest our heads upon, but
she slipped quietly into that undertow
and I was left alone on the beach, a girl again,
weeping.



Pris Campbell
©2007


Art: The Kiss of Peace by Julia Cameron


Published in Boxcar Poetry Review, May 2007.


A very nice honor:

Announcing May 2007 Peer Award for Best Poem of the Issue


After tallying the votes, we are pleased to report that Pris Campbell's "Undertow" is our Peer Award winner for Best Poem in the May 2007 issue. She will be receiving $25 and a "gold star" for her efforts :)

Neil Aitken, Editor


Also nominated , among poems by others, by Boxcar Review for Best of the Web 2007 Anthology (Dzanc Books). 

Thank you, Neil!
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