Sally Rosen Kindred
Letter to My Nineteen Seventies
Dear Nixon, dear apron, dear child’s candied tongue:
there’s been a wrinkle. You left the sprinkler on.
The curling iron plugged in.
On the table, no note—you’d remember it―
Dear ones, my groovy dead, it never said: forgive me.
The typewriter’s still humming. It looks like rain.
Tillie, the neighbors’ hound, is whining in the street.
It never said, Remember: a tooth beneath your pillow
means the President will resign, so your parents’
marriage can run an extra year, stirred up
by Watergate and wine. Don’t forget: Tillie,
tipping her brindle head. They hardly fed her.
Do you hear thunder? Dear umbrella heart, it’s still
July. We can’t spend all day in the backyard,
flushed in long dresses,
pretending to wave from the tarmac.
Let’s hit the bookcase. Head inside.
Secret of the Bitter Clock, Secret of the Thirsty Well.
Dig deeper in the couch—the plot’s all wrong.
Dear Encyclopedia Britannica, dear family-of-five: the house
is shrinking by the eaves, by the dogwood saucer-leaves. No room
for Rhodesia and index cards
that blot the rug. No more dreams
down the shelf of heavy books and the man
who stood before them, emptying his pennies and his keys.
No secrets, velvet. No secrets, steel wool.
Mom’s last Valium fell
in the tub. Or under the bed? Her kettle’s
cold. Her thimble’s on the porch.
Dear right eye: you invented this pain.
Dear left eye, stand down.
Dear Nixon, dear apron,
it’s getting dark. You can’t stay here.
Best to take it at a run—Tillie will come too.
Act natural. Like you do it
every day. Grab her leash and head for the winter
trees. Bring your mittens, dear Lonely. Don’t sign your name.
Sally Rosen Kindred is the author of two poetry books from Mayapple Press, Book of Asters and No Eden. Her most recent chapbook is Says the Forest to the Girl (Porkbelly Press, 2018). Poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Gettysburg Review, Missouri Review's poem-of-the-week web feature, Poetry Northwest, and Kenyon Review Online. For more information, please see: Visit her website: www.sallyrosenkindred.com.
Return to September 2018 Edition
Dear Nixon, dear apron, dear child’s candied tongue:
there’s been a wrinkle. You left the sprinkler on.
The curling iron plugged in.
On the table, no note—you’d remember it―
Dear ones, my groovy dead, it never said: forgive me.
The typewriter’s still humming. It looks like rain.
Tillie, the neighbors’ hound, is whining in the street.
It never said, Remember: a tooth beneath your pillow
means the President will resign, so your parents’
marriage can run an extra year, stirred up
by Watergate and wine. Don’t forget: Tillie,
tipping her brindle head. They hardly fed her.
Do you hear thunder? Dear umbrella heart, it’s still
July. We can’t spend all day in the backyard,
flushed in long dresses,
pretending to wave from the tarmac.
Let’s hit the bookcase. Head inside.
Secret of the Bitter Clock, Secret of the Thirsty Well.
Dig deeper in the couch—the plot’s all wrong.
Dear Encyclopedia Britannica, dear family-of-five: the house
is shrinking by the eaves, by the dogwood saucer-leaves. No room
for Rhodesia and index cards
that blot the rug. No more dreams
down the shelf of heavy books and the man
who stood before them, emptying his pennies and his keys.
No secrets, velvet. No secrets, steel wool.
Mom’s last Valium fell
in the tub. Or under the bed? Her kettle’s
cold. Her thimble’s on the porch.
Dear right eye: you invented this pain.
Dear left eye, stand down.
Dear Nixon, dear apron,
it’s getting dark. You can’t stay here.
Best to take it at a run—Tillie will come too.
Act natural. Like you do it
every day. Grab her leash and head for the winter
trees. Bring your mittens, dear Lonely. Don’t sign your name.
Sally Rosen Kindred is the author of two poetry books from Mayapple Press, Book of Asters and No Eden. Her most recent chapbook is Says the Forest to the Girl (Porkbelly Press, 2018). Poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Gettysburg Review, Missouri Review's poem-of-the-week web feature, Poetry Northwest, and Kenyon Review Online. For more information, please see: Visit her website: www.sallyrosenkindred.com.
Return to September 2018 Edition