3 Poems

DOWN

Using my right hand, I point,
“I can draw it.”
I draw “Eloise,” but really,
it’s the opposite angle.

As happy as I am showing
my word backwards,
my point doesn’t work.
Missing again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GONE

I lost my language so quickly
no real words could even assist me.
I couldn’t speak my meanings,
my mouth without my mind
and it was just yesterday when I was 72.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOW APHASIA ZIPPED ME UP

My damaged brain blocked
me in a list and that unsaved me.

I didn’t hear what Colleen meant,
I couldn’t say what I said to her

and that even lost me
because it lost me first.

Eloise Klein Healy, the author of nine books of poetry, was named the first Poet Laureate of Los Angeles in 2012. She was the founding chair of the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Antioch University Los Angeles. Her forthcoming book, A Brilliant Loss, will be published in 2022.