“Shadow Poem from the Holy Rosary”
This is a poem dedicated to my grandmother Peg. I remember visiting her home in Linden, New Jersey. Most days, she was sitting at her dining room table and praying the rosary. For some reason, I always associated this act of prayer as very solemn, sad, and an embodiment of how she suffered. I wanted to rethink a woman’s relationship to prayer, so I used the original prayer text that my grandmother would use, but pulled out language that celebrated creation and feminine strength and the female body as being not doing. It definitely was an experimental poem, and I am pleased it has found its way into the reader’s lap at Wayfare Magazine.