THE POWER IS IN YOUR PULSE
by Paula Coomer
We the people carry in our pulses
the pact we made with ourselves
the moment we sucked air, before we
even hungered for the tit. Our urge
is toward life burgeoned and outsized
flitting pulsing with what we might do
with the time we have left. The power
is we, I, our, me, and us right now to change
the next. The old vanished anyway. What if
we keep shopping only biweekly? What if
we keep doing Zumba and tai chi and yoga
on the streets of our neighborhoods? What if
we keep singing from balconies and howling
like wolves at eight in the evening? What if
we keep cooking our own meals, but because
we love our local restauranteurs what if
we keep picking up takeout once a week
to share with our neighbors in the driveway
six feet apart? What if we keep wearing
our hair long? What if we do not keep eating
factory animals? What if we grow vegetables
and fruit and gave extras to our neighbors?
You grow the peas, and I grow the pears. What if
we pluck eggs from our own hens? What if
we keep our offices at home, stroking the cat
as we work, turn our day jobs into creating
arts we trade and share for joy, not money? What if
I make the table and you make the chairs? If
we did drink the Kool-Aid, what if
we like it? What if
we like it a lot? What
do you imagine for yourself
in your next perfect world?
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Paula Coomer spent most of her childhood in the industrial Ohio River town of New Albany, Indiana. The daughter of more than two hundred years of Kentucky Appalachian farmers, she moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1978. She has been a migrant farm laborer, a waitress, a bean sorter in a cannery, a cosmetics saleswoman, a federal officer, a nurse, and a university writing instructor. Her essays, short fiction, and poetry have appeared in Gargoyle, Ascent, and The Raven Chronicles, among others. Books include the novels Jagged Edge of the Sky, Dove Creek, Summer of Government Cheese, the Blue Moon health and wellness series, and two poetry collections, Nurses Who Love English and Devil at the Crossroads. Ms. Coomer was nominated for the Pulitzer, the Pushcart, and other awards. Her newest book, a collection of short fiction, Somebody Should Have Scolded the Girl, is a BuzzFeed-recommended title. She lives in eastern Washington State, where she teaches and promotes writing in the community.
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Email: coom1286@hotmail.com
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