Susan Barry-Schulz
SELF-PORTRAIT AS BODY AT REST IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES
I’m fast becoming a doorstop, or perhaps a cast
iron skillet/ A sledge hammer missing its smooth
oak handle/A pair of steel-toed boots parked at the
bottom of the stairs/ Sand bags piled at the edge
of a curb/A boat-shaped boulder dragged by glaciers
receding up through the Hudson Valley left behind
finally on my suburban front lawn/ I am the “picture rock”
where we took all the photos/ Curly hair and Easter
outfits/ First day of school with the neighborhood kids/
new backpacks/ I am moss-covered now, thick with grass,
strewn with twigs and acorn bits/ A folded up newspaper
wet and swollen in a blue plastic bag/ Heavy; too heavy
to start somewhere new/ Too heavy to heave/ Stuck
between myself and a hard place.