Maren O. Mitchell, Lois Hampton, Homesick Striptease Artiste

Maren O. Mitchell
Lois Hampton, Homesick Striptease Artiste

Life lived without obvious purpose
can still be meaningful—I miss
California, Shaw’s Cove, where I worshiped gods
of light, warmth, water and wind. I remember
clasping coves guarded by cliffs, garnished
by challenging waves—my time
without time, without ambition.
I remember recharged days of yoga,
hidden from the cliffs above,
naked time, clothes superfluous,
as gulls inscribed their circular dances
punctuated by diving,
as breezes brushed my hair
and sea bathed and held me.
Supported by sand grains while sun
molded my surfaces, my mistakes untangled:
even now I taste salt on my lips,
feel the tide enfold, pulling me toward the East.

Bio: Maren O. Mitchell’s poems appear in Poetry East, Tar River Poetry, POEM, The Lake (UK), The Pedestal Magazine, Hotel Amerika, Chiron Review, Iodine Poetry Journal, Appalachian Heritage, Town Creek Poetry, The South Carolina Review, Skive (AU), Wild Goose Poetry Review and Southern Humanities Review. Work is forthcoming in Slant: A Journal of Poetry, Poetry East, Appalachian Heritage, Chiron Review and Hotel Amerika.

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