walk into small claims
court and make everyone
believe her, beat the
oldest jewelry store's
claim that they didn't
melt her antique ring
and get the born-again
carpenter and painter
yelping "God will teach
us the way to scrape
and sand" on scaffolding
she suddenly sees as
a cross and gets her
neighbor's meek husband
to not belch, "her tree's
roots ruined their wall,"
before she had to take
out photos, proving the
chestnut was there first,
got her lawyer to fall
for her and men from
Louisiana to Big Sur,
but couldn't get the one
whose voice did what no
other to make it 50 per
cent of the time even
tho on radio air, after
an afternoon on her
quilt, his ruffled hair,
his someone special
making a chicken sandwich
as she dumped chicken
bones in the jar before
curling up with his voice
which was more than she
usually got
Lyn Lifshin has written more than 100 books and edited 4 anthologies of women writers. Her poems have appeared in most poetry and literary magazines in the U.S.A., and her work has been included in virtually every major anthology of recent writing by women. Her most recent collection is A New Film About a Woman in Love with the Dead.