*

Somerville poet Anna M. Warrock writes The Times: “The title of my new book, From the Other Room, comes from a dream. That poem relates only part of the dream. Once I began to follow the characters and give them text and a description, the poem took on its own life. The book won the annual Slate Roof Press Chapbook Award (www.SlateRoofPress.com). This is also a dream poem and the first poem in the book. Dreams are very flexible. For me, tuning in to their suggestive nature is a fruitful stimulus for writing.”

Anna M. Warrock

In Real Life, They Are Dead

My mother and sisters

wave from the window of the train.

They smile, almost laughing,

and nod at one another. They look out

at me on the platform

and wave again.

The train goes, sounding just like a train.

The clacking begins, the chrome lines blur,

and this departing happiness

stays with me, like some treasure

of the first time, the first time I knew,

the first time I knew

I was really alive

among people and birds,

the white lilies

and white chrysanthemums.

— Anna M. Warrock

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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