Poetry by Susan Bruce
If I were forced to choose between
laughter, the kind chained to a vein,
or interior decorations, real life
sonnets in concert, I would reread the
first 20 recipes in the Joy of Cooking
in the event that someone
was about to judge me:
which is the reason I watch The Bachelor
who cannot satisfy the women
no matter how he combs his hair
or how many unknown relatives he calls,
or how much love he has leftover;
he never caught a glimpse of me.
Not during the hot months when
my microwave took messages
or the bottom of my car smelled like
mango, or in my white tee-shirt sheer
in the driving rain flared by all those
weeks I never left the apartment;
I overflow the bathtub, under walk
the dogs, push poems to the side
to make room for other poems that
have only lived for a moment while
I wait it out in this rush of nothing.
They will say, I sailed through it.
Susan Bruce has an MFA in Acting from Tisch School of the Arts. She was an actress for many years performing on and off Broadway. She has studied poetry at The New School with David Lehman, Kathleen Ossip, and Patricia Carlin. Susan has a chapbook, Body of Water, with Finishing Line Press and poems on Love’s Executive Order, in Washington Square Review, Barrow Street, 805 Lit & Art, Luna Luna, december, SWWIM, Dirty Chai, Yes Poetry, No Dear, YESYES Books, Regal House Publishing. Susan hails from Brooklyn. She is an avid swimmer and exuberant surfer.
Arcturus 