Alison Luterman

Speaking With Lisa, Who Teaches At The Women’s Prison

Rooster

At the first crack / in dawn’s black eggshell, / my neighbor’s rooster crows / with a voice / like rusty tap water.

Drama Queen

We all want to be cared for out of pure love, but love does not come pure in this world. It comes stained, and sometimes stinking of urine, as her bedroom did near the end, when her catheter was leaking. In this world, love comes mixed with pity and anger and guilt and all those other less-than-noble emotions that we are not supposed to have. We should thank God love shows up at all.

Smashing The Plates

Green

Schmaltz

Prodigal Daughter

Makendra trailed loss and mess and catastrophe the way Halley’s comet trails a cloudy veil of ice and gas. She was dark-skinned and lovely, with finely arched eyebrows and sharp cheekbones. She could have been a fashion model if not for the birthmark that covered one side of her face like a pale pink shadow.

Nonviolence

The Secret Of My Success

For me, the answer to the question “When do you write?” is easy: I write when I’m avoiding some other important task.

Selected Poems