KarMel Scholarship 2008

Poem

“A Future of the Past (And Still Not Yet Present)”

By Allison Sellers

Desciption of Submission: “free verse; a moment of reminiscing between to once-lovers” - Allison

I came to you and we talked of unspoken things. We shared those moments whispered about, not said aloud in polite [repressed] conversations. We sat on your porch, drinking tea and hearing summer bees, a couple of old women in a world that would never know us for who we were. Once-lovers, always-friends, pretend-strangers passing in familiar time and place. Residents of a time when in the mind of man there was no such thing as a woman who loved only women. We were an abomination.

That was us. Hiding in the daylight, always pressed against the wall, pretending to be invisible until we could press against each other and find warmth and truth that was never found anywhere else. We were ghosts.

We made babies and poundcakes. We talked about our men and our happy lives as little women. We did laundry and took pottery classes, went shopping and bought pretty dresses that we wore [but not for them]. We were liars.

And we dreamt. We dreamt about a future without secrets. With open hugs and sweet, unfettered kisses. We dreamt of honesty.

Our husbands are dead. Our daughters are grown, and they do what they will with men...with women...or not at all. And we sit on your porch, drink tea, and we are best friends [but still never lovers].

The past is past [but the future still has not come...]

Back