Mary Lou Buschi 

Curiosity Box I.

The donkey stands dumbly
by the red wood fence.

Ponds made of mirrors
and snow stacks of cotton.

There are wise men,
an angel hovering.

Look closely, those are
just paper bags,

no real mountains.

And the lamb that has come to see
doesn’t have a single breath.  




Curiosity Box II.

(1)

In the tree,
a broken clock,
bare hands pointing up.

(2)

In her mouth
sprigs of rosemary 
reaching for a place to root. 

(3)

Arms up,
arms up, she’d say
quick—quick
look at the ceiling.
And I would
through breathless coughing.

(4)

Arms up, arms up,
she said, and hurry.

 Tired of waiting for death,

she climbed in and away.




Mary Lou Buschi’s chapbook, The Spell of Coming (or Going,) was selected as the winner of The NYC Siren Series and will be published in the summer of 2012 by Patasola Press.   Her poems have appeared or are appearing in Willow Springs, RHINO, CURA: A Literary Magazine of Art and Action, A Cappella Zoo, The Laurel Review, Indiana Review, The Collagist, PANK, and Swink.  Her poems are forthcoming in Tar River Poetry, Gargoyle, and Red Lighbulbs.  Mary Lou earned an MFA in Poetry from Warren Wilson College and is a special education teacher in the Bronx.   
 



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