My Debut
Laura Madeline Wiseman
1869
Principal John A Fletcher
Court Street School
Council Bluffs, Iowa
Dear John,
What makes me do it? Death
of our first child, of yours
which haunts us each time you cough.
Nonpareil prints fair words,
notes my talent before my talk
on stage at Burhop's Hall.
The room, near empty,
fewer than half a dozen
clap at the curtain lift.
I gasp. The gaslights
send spots wherever I look,
an editor, some friends, her ghost.
What can I do, put pretend
the house is packed
and speak my two hours of words.
At the end, I say goodbye
to teaching, to motherhood, to you,
John, to whom I once was
Matilda
1869
Principal John A Fletcher
Court Street School
Council Bluffs, Iowa
Dear John,
What makes me do it? Death
of our first child, of yours
which haunts us each time you cough.
Nonpareil prints fair words,
notes my talent before my talk
on stage at Burhop's Hall.
The room, near empty,
fewer than half a dozen
clap at the curtain lift.
I gasp. The gaslights
send spots wherever I look,
an editor, some friends, her ghost.
What can I do, put pretend
the house is packed
and speak my two hours of words.
At the end, I say goodbye
to teaching, to motherhood, to you,
John, to whom I once was
Matilda