Lady Liberty's Skirt - January 6, 2021, poem by Martha Annice Jackson at Spillwords.com

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Lady Liberty’s Skirt – January 6, 2021

Martha Annice·February 27, 2021

English Poetry

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Lady Liberty’s Skirt

January 6, 2021

written by: Martha Annice Jackson

@ANNICE31245245

Eyes skirting the sky, she’s lost
Looking up for a vision, making decisions,
but not frantic
Stilted from unknown and known assaults
Life is an erratic routine of legal delights

A storm brewing and the timid are fickle
Been in a hundred-thousand storms only ten percent severe
Surrounded by vapors of unstable air
the world becomes theatrical
the bitten bitter hang on to the stage of windshear

Unglued and cleared and ready to harm
Mystified, but without hesitation,
the Lady smoothed her skirt down.
Lays back, smiles as the thunder storms
Someone’s blood is a charm on her arm.

Knew the wind was coming
Saw the temperature dropping
No routine to change
Everything is agitated, but she’s restrained
Birds sending silent tweets
Wolfs refuse to howl
Gleefully, Lady Liberty smoothed down her skirt
And smiled.

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Martha Annice

I write stories based on my childhood in Lebanon, Tennessee where I grew up in the African American community as the daughter of the town bootlegger. Growing up in a small southern town was not always easy, but growing up as the child of the bootlegger was even more difficult—and always interesting. What I hope to accomplish in my writing is to preserve this life in small-town Tennessee after the Second World War, especially the lives of the people that I loved in these small towns. This life and these people will be lost if not preserved in stories. I hope to preserve characters, their situations, and their voices in my stories because I do not want them to be lost. I am fairly new to the area of creative writing, but I have studied writing and worked with a mentor at Middle Tennessee State University in the MTSU WRITE program.

Lou Storey

A textbook example of nominative determinism, Lou Storey has always been a storyteller, a fact well illustrated in his art and in his writing. His careers have reflected that as well, first as a creator of idea-based exhibitions for museums, and later as a psychotherapist employing narrative therapies. His art and his writing share qualities of rich texture and detail, examining our capacity to be absurd while allowing a measure of forgiveness for our foibles. Storey and his husband Steve retired in 2021 and moved from New Jersey to Savannah Georgia. “We love everything about Savannah, it is like a city that looks like a park and thinks it’s a small town. Best of all, we can grow bananas in the backyard!”

Treats Only, Please! by Lauren Scott

Creepy cackles from tall, looming trees
startle their jumpy heartbeats as they walk.
Shadows discreetly follow the echoes
while they timidly proceed down the block.

Young voices repeat with conviction,
“It’s just a night for entertainment.”
There’s no need for goosebumps and fear
as their eyes focus on the cracked pavement.

Undeniably sensing they’re not alone,
many follow in their hesitant footsteps,
eager to reach doors and push doorbells
but afraid of frightening special effects....

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Lady Liberty’s Skirt – January 6, 2021

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