Spread the Word

Email This Poem to a Friend

About Adrian Blevins

More about this book

New Poem

Search Poems


Adrian Blevins

Still Life with Peeved Madonna

It’s clear I’m standing on the Isle of Motherdom
given these three children hanging off my arms and feet

weighing the weight of the planet, at least.
The children look like dime-store bric-a-brac

since all that swings will squarely star-sparkle,
but more like missiles in size and expulsion intent.

They’re asking how cold is the water, to which I say I don’t know.
They’re asking could they have some macaroni & cheese

to which I say I’m occupied hating this line, hush, now hush.
They’re asking how far is it inland & do the natives dance there

& can they go & get some confetti & snort or inject it
to which I say years ago I could answer your questions

but look at those clouds, I think that’s a cyclone
to which they say, fuck you, Mom, you’re always so paranoid

to which I say, fuck you, too, you remind me of lizards,
were you birthed in an outhouse by an ogre or a loon?

Adrian Blevins

Adrian Blevins was born in Abington, Virginia and holds a graduate degree from Hollins University and an MFA in Writing from Warren Wilson College. She is the author of The Brass Girl Brouhaha, which won the 2004 Kate Tufts Discovery Award and a chapbook titled The Man Who Went Out for Cigarettes. Among her other awards are a Rona Jaffe Writers Foundation Award for Poetry and the Lamar York Prize for Nonfiction. She teaches at Colby College and lives in Waterville, Maine.