Jeanie Tomasko
AFTER HE LEFT
When the children were small and sleeping,
the night warm and raining,
I would go out to a place under the broken
eaves. Naked, yes. And standing under,
wash my hair with rain and the dark of night.
I could hear cars on the other side
of the duplex. I could smell the sheets
upstairs. I still couldn’t touch anything
labeled future. Lonely in the rain,
the spirit is beautiful. It can marry
the heart for no one to see. Like I said,
I washed my hair under the broken rain,
and stood there in the night, glistening.
—from Rattle #41, Fall 2013
Tribute to Single Parent Poets
__________
Jeanie Tomasko: “I write poetry so that I can meet with my poetry group, ‘Garlic,’ drink coffee, and talk about everything but our poems for almost two hours until someone says, ‘Did anyone bring anything?’ I guess because poetry is life. I was a single parent for a few years after finally leaving what should have been left much earlier. This poem is about the healing. I still thank God for that broken eavestrough and my sweet kids and my husband who gently healed us all.”
