https://www.albany.edu/offcourse
http://offcourse.org
ISSN 1556-4975
Published by Ricardo and Isabel Nirenberg since 1998
Poems by Miriam Kotzin
Confession
I kept no list of all I broke:
no list of friends, once cherished yet
discarded; angered, cruelly spoke;
ideals distorted; run up debt;
I’ve chipped and cracked; I’ve shattered, smashed;
I’ve bumped and bent; I’ve battered, crashed;
I’m brash, bombastic, caustic, snide;
And worse, dear friend, in truth, I’ve lied.
Suite in Old Age
1.
light snow drifts
slow flakes
gnarled black branches
white petals
remembered fragrance
2.
even so
the sly
breeze addles
the white pear
blossoms made
dizzy first
one then all
aflutter
all adrift
3.
shallow stream
without reflection
leaves tremble
in afternoon sun
shadows
on the wall
4.
white
lace lifted
from its box
my
face pales
behind three veils
sight
cloudy
ancient mirror
5.
Ironic pear
tasteless
ornament
mother said nothing good ever
came from an old tree
this old pear
its only
fragrance rot
how long I waited fruitless wanting
to prove her wrong
Author Miriam N. Kotzin is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently, Debris Field (David Robert Books, 2016). Her novel, Right This Way, (Spuyten Duyvil Publishing, 2023) joins a novel, The Real Deal (Brick House Press, 2012), her collection of short fiction, Country Music (Spuyten Duyvil publishing, 2017), and a collection of flash fiction, Just Desserts (Star Cloud Press 2010). Her fiction and poetry have been published in anthologies and numerous periodicals such as Shenandoah, Boulevard, SmokeLong Quarterly, Eclectica, Mezzo Cammin, and Valparaiso Poetry Review. She teaches creative writing and literature at Drexel University.