Poems Niederngasse

Lisa Prince

the poet is brought to her knees


I have known parchment less forgiving
than a mother's offhand words or the stare
of a stranger in a public space

broken nails scrape just as easily down
the spines of books as humans
but are less pleasing in the end

sooner or later we all are categorized

when your grocery receipts add up
to double zeros you carefully tally
each letter of the alphabet only to find

your name left in the coffee grinds

decaf is not an option until you've hit
that other button on the elevator
just the way the ground floor almost always isn't

if I hold onto my pencil tighter
than my grip on reality then I won't
be swept away like so much flotsam

Lisa Prince calls Southern Ontario (Canada) her home, where she lives  with her daughter and three cats. Currently a full-time mom and
homemaker, she writes as the mood strikes, and more recently as a
daily poetic challenge. email:  L.Prince