*

Lynn Fitzgerald is a Chicago native and citizen of the world. She is member of Poets and Patrons, Illinois State Poetry Society. Currently, an adjunct professor of English for the City Colleges of Chicago, where she teaches research, poetry, and film. Her chapbook, Closer to the Earth, was awarded a CAAP grant and was published by Moon Journal Press.

Subtraction

                                                                                                  “An artist creates not by adding, but by taking away.”
                                                                                                                                                               Robert Bresson

First, the gold and diamonds disappeared:
my grandmother ‘s gift of a wedding ring,
your onyx ring initialed in 24 K gold

Lynn Fitzgerald

The dresser drawers upturned
door ajar, ghostly so
someone took away the sofa, threw away the bed

Left behind the sheets and drapes
the porcelain from an antique land
tarnished teacups, the scattering of plates

The ashtray gone
along with the cigarette’s flame
the matches in a pocket we stashed away.

Yet the love story,
the bodies twined into one remained,
youth had one direction and that was us

We kept our beating hearts, gave
away the car, kept to our daily walks
gave away money or spent it as we pleased

We gave away paintings and photographs
you abandoned your blue suit, left the closet door open
I left my wedding dress draped across the floor

We walked away, you in your tweed
overcoat black shoes polished, me in my suede
jacket, fur cuffs and velvet boots

The hats, scarves, and gloves we left on the mantel
the carpet and the chairs tossed into space
we were holding on to us before we vanished into air.

— Lynn Fitzgerald

________________________________________
To have your work considered for the Lyrical send it to:
Doug Holder, 25 School St.; Somerville, MA 02143
dougholder@post.harvard.edu