Sisterhood. Poems by Julie R. Enszer. Number Two in the inaugural Summer Kitchen Series. Limited edition of only 49 copies.
Julie R. Enszer's first book of poetry, Handmade Love, was published in 2010 by A Midsummer Night's Press. She has her MFA from the University of Maryland and is completing a PhD in Women's Studies. Her poetry has previously been published in Iris: A Journal about Women, Room of One's Own, Long Shot, the Web Del Sol Review, and the Jewish Women's Literary Annual. She is a regular book reviewer for the Lambda Book Report and Calyx.
Release date: June 30, 2010.
24 pages.
$7.
Limited copies available--order yours now!
SHE AND I
We were never close.
Never dyed our hair together.
No tandem manicures.
No joint shopping excursions.
We fought.
Earlier, in the back seat
of the Caprice Classic
on family vacations
and later on the telephone.
Before she died, I told her
no one could take her seriously.
It was the way she talked.
So fast. And breathless.
Ending every declarative
with the intonation of a question.
She dismissed me, angrily.
She said, You don't understand
my artistic personality.
I didn't. The dancing.
The boyfriends. Alternative
music. I disdained
them all. This is the truth:
I've loved so many women
more than my sister.
Had she lived, she would
have been nothing more than
a familial correspondent--
treacly holiday sentiments
and Hallmarked birthdays.
Occasionally, I might have
called her, late on Sundays,
with an obligatory update.
But now we're closer
than we've ever been. Dead,
my sister is finally present.
