Three Poems
by Tara A. Elliott
Poetry
Steep
Before, you drank coffee—
its aroma, a cologne clinging to you
with the sweet scent of tobacco
& the faint masculine smell of sweat.
You drank it bitter, in celebrated procession,
savoring its heat against your calloused hands,
cupping the mug two-handed
as though greeting an old friend.
Then, you drank tea—
a saucepan endlessly on the stove,
teabags knotted-together & boiling away the hours.
Often, they would roll so rapidly in the pot, the paper
would tear open & spit spent leaves into darkness.
Now, when I make tea, I make it a single cup at a time—
first bringing the water to an almost-boil, then pouring
it over orange pekoe & leaving it steep.
Columbine, Columbine
1999
Aspens in a stand
bracing one another long after fire
has singed what they’ve known to the ground.
How they cluster from the single seed, flourishing
firmly from the stock—thick black scars & knots
dark against the pale peeling bark.
Here, in the land of the free, magpies never cease to mimic.
One day, our children will stop killing children.
One day, our children will stop killing themselves.
And we shall rise like these trees as they struggle & stretch for sky,
our many leaves will move on this delicate breeze,
heart-shaped, quivering.
Truth
for Echo
Show me the mirrored surface
where he heard his own voice
telling him
about hisgloriousself.
​
Your love
was the sound
of your own voice
trapped ever in whisper.
O to him, you became the ripple
in the water that ruined perfection,
ruined perfection,
perfection.
You waited for him to love you,
& your breasts
shriveled, flowers
crumpled
after
frost.
You waited for him to love you,
& your bones
grew brittle, cattails
toppled
in winter’s
marsh.
You waited for him to love you.
You waited for him.
You wait.
And all the while,
him—breathless
& blue,
drowning
in his own image.
About the Author
Tara A. Elliott’s poems have appeared in MER, The TAOS Journal of International Poetry & Art, Wildness, Triggerfish, and The American Journal of Poetry, among others. As recipient of the 2018 Maryland Humanities' Teacher of the Year Award, she has been recognized for her outstanding contributions to education.