PoetryMagazine.com

Laura Madeline Wiseman
USA

Laura Madeline Wiseman’s debut book of poetry is Sprung (San Francisco Bay Press). She is also the author of five chapbooks and the editor of Women Write Resistance: Poets Resist Gender Violence (Hyacinth Girl Press). She has a doctorate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she teaches creative writing. She has recently been awarded a fellowship from the Wurlitzer Foundation.   

 

 

 

In the New House 

 
We have done nothing to improve. No caulk lines careful 
along pink shower tile. No vacuum rented to wash urine 

 
from the shag. No, we won’t upgrade or undo. No epoxy 
pushed between curled lips of linoleum. Not a light bulb

 
unscrewed. We refuse to dismantle. We won’t take away.
Not a mothball bound to a closet rung. Not a single panel 

 
of faux wood from the living room wall. No, we won’t 
repair or mend. We’re leaving this like it is. No tape 

 
pressed to window holes. No white paint rolled over 
orange and green. No asbestos tile found under it all. 

 
No boxes unpacked. No table and chairs arranged. No fruit
placed in bowls. Nothing will make us change. The house is 

 
as we were, when we walked through. My hand clasped
around the realtor’s flyer. Needs TLC. All offers considered. 

 

from Sprung (San Francisco Bay Press, 2012)

 

 

 

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