Sunday, July 02, 2023

New Poetry by Alexandria Tannenbaum










Putting Up My Daughter’s Hair Before A Bath 

She turns her body away 
curls falling over her shoulder 
like rain on a window.

Her shoulders, 
a comma at the end of a sentence, 
curved and triumphant. 

I take in my hands, 
her curls, which are light–
the weightlessness a wisp 
of all the delicate pieces.

I collect them all:
carefully wrap the rubberband 
bringing it over again and again 
and I lower her into the warm bath water. 

She folds into play with her sister 
droplets of water go unnoticed 
as they lift arms up and out of the water 
birds diving again and again for fish, 
creating colonies of animals, 

and I am rendered useless 
as it gets easier and easier 
to float.


- © Alexandria Tannenbaum 2023


Alexandria Tannenbaum is a poet and twice National Board Certified educator working outside of Chicago, Illinois. She is pursuing a poetry MFA from Lindenwood University. Her poems are published in the journal  Across The Margin, and her poem “The Strip Mall” will be appearing in an upcoming publication of As It Ought To Be Magazine.

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