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Diane E. Dees
Two for Hepburn, In Memoriam
1.
Bright independent mother of us all,
initiate of Fenwick's rowdy clique,
that from your birth empowered you to seek
out royalty with estimable gall,
to conquer men and leopards and to haul
a stag upon your shoulder. Never meek,
you wore smart pants, you seldom appeared weak.
Mythology has wrapped you like a caul.
But cameras lie, and nobody could see
into that room of urgent danger dark
where young life, hanging in the balance, snatched
your soul before you ever swam the sea
of possibilities, and made your spark
a blaze that turned the Memory to ash.
2.
Rosie rushing down the river,
bones and angles lead the way;
vowels wide as Fenwick's sky,
glints of sun on auburn waves.
Bones and angles lead the way
for women rising from a sleep.
Glints of sun on auburn waves
light the path for years to come
for women. Rising from a sleep,
Like Old Saybrook's beam she will
light the path for years to come,
willing squalls to dissipate.
Like Old Saybrook's beam she will
guide the timid to the shore;
willing squalls to dissipate,
navigating through the sound.
Guide the timid to the shore;
vowels wide as Fenwick's sky;
navigating through the sound --
Rosie rushing down the river.
©2004 by Diane E. Dees
Diane E. Dees is a psychotherapist and writer in Louisiana. Her
short
stories, essays, poetry, and political commentary have appeared in many
publications, and she publishes a blog. Diane
and
her husband, Orvin Tobiason, are the webmasters of princesscafe.com,
the
world's only virtual rock and roll restaurant. Diane has work
forthcoming in
Manorborn, Hazmat Review, The Raven Chronicles and The Louisiana
Review. Her
short story about Bette Davis recently won third place in the San
Francisco/Nob Hill American League of Pen Women's annual short story
competition.
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