222 Jackson Ave
by Lyn Lifshin
painting windows gold
for a reason I don’t
remember, a virgin
after 10 months of
marriage. The cats
were the only things
growing. I stuffed
them in the closet when
the landlord came to
cut down the lilacs.
There was never
mail on Wednesday.
We went to his
mother’s and I pretended
to care about soap
flakes and never
exploded when she’d
pull out a can of
Baby Gerber’s, say if
you really loved
us, if you weren’t
like a crazy woman
with those cats, you’d
be getting ready
to need this
____________________________
Lyn Lifshin’s recent books include The Licorice Daughter: My Year
with Ruffian (Texas Review Press) and Another Woman Who Looks
Like Me (Black Sparrow at Godine). She has written more than 120
books and edited four anthologies. Her website is www.lynlifshin.com.
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Apple Valley Review:
A Journal of Contemporary
Literature
ISSN 1931-3888
Volume 7, Number 1
(Spring 2012)
Copyright © 2012
by Leah Browning, Editor.
All future rights to material
published in the Apple
Valley Review are retained
by the individual authors
and artists.
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