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Sarah Hirsch is a painter, writer, and teacher. She lives in coastal Wickford, Rhode Island, surrounded by beautiful water and light. Recent works have centered on the sublime and the ordinary, dancers, enormous flowers, loss, the ocean and her many moods, and children in their many states of motion. Sarah holds a Masters of Education from Lesley University, Montessori certification, and a BA from Colby College. She has lived and taught in the Boston area, as well as Maine, Rhode Island, India, France, and Morocco while on a Fulbright Grant. www.sghirsch.com.

To the woman with the pendulating breasts:
Thank you.

Stony expression fixed on the blinking walk signal
flashing bright against the watercolors of post-deluge dawn,
a weathered, strong knuckle grip anchored to a cardboard coffee cup
faded baseball cap shoved tight down over tin hair,

Sarah Hirsch

metal-stubborn curling out sideways in a relentless fight for flight,
bouncing slightly with each step,

as your breasts swing free, long with the care
of children, almost certainly, and lovers,
gravity and age lived

the thin cotton of your top a
tenuous barrier against the heat
of July and gaze of strangers.

Thank you, because I dreamt of my mother and woke up
missing her, and wishing
I could see her solidly
marching along a sidewalk, bra-less and brazen.

— Sarah Hirsch

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