3 Remedies, Two Observations

A poem by Cheryl Loetscher

Fasten your embrace
around the one
who arrives broken,
dragging behind her
on coarse-hewn runners
an unwieldy grief.

Notice the beating heart
of her memory
as it breaks through unstable ice
like a mottled harp seal.

If all else fails,
take her to Halifax
on the Beaumont Ferry.

Bitter squalls may shatter a house,
but a damaged woman can heal
surrounded by asters
and unfettered wisteria.

Cheryl Loetscher Cheryl writes:
"3 Remedies, Two Observations" was written several years ago, after I finished re-reading E. Annie Proulx's book, The Shipping News, and after I had seen the movie for the second time. I was incredibly moved by her characters, particularly Aunt Agnis Hamm.

Cheryl Loetscher writes from Colorado, where she has worked as a family law paralegal for more than twenty-one years. Her poems have appeared in many literary journals, and a number of them have won prizes and distinctions in contests across the United States. She was recently awarded the 2006 George F. Wedge Poetry Prize by I-70 Review, the 2006 Poetry Prize by Wild Goose Poetry Review, and the 2006 Poetry Prize by The Litchfield Review. She is co-editor of an annual poetry journal, HeartLodge, which is published in Denver, and she has three times been a featured poet in Braided Lives, a poetry and fine arts performance and exhibition sponsored by the Taos Institute of Art. Cheryl can be reached via email at: cherylloetscher@msn.com.

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