Family Duplex

by Rose Solari

When I was young, my father took the sad parts out of stories.
In his version of Little Women, Beth never died.

            In his version of Little Women, Beth survived.
           He wove his versions easily, with such skill.

He wove his version of my mother with such skill.
Like the time she chased me with the steak knife.

            The time she chased me with the steak knife.
           He took it out of her hand, led her away.

He eased it out of her hand, led her away.
The next day, he said that it had never happened.  

            We were alone. He said that it had never happened.
            Your mother loves you, he said. She would never do that.

Your mother loves you, he said. She would never do that.
When I was young, my father took the sad parts out of stories.

Rose Solari is the author of three full-length collections of poetry, The Last Girl, Orpheus in the Park, and Difficult Weather; the one-act play, Looking for Guenevere; and a novel, A Secret Woman. Her work has appeared in many magazines and journals, including APR, Gargoyle, Parnassus, and Poetry Northwest, and several anthologies, including American Poetry: The Next Generation, The Poet’s Quest for God, and Initiate: An Oxford Anthology of New Writing. She has lectured and taught writing workshops at many institutions, including the University of Maryland, College Park; St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland; Arizona State University, Tempe; and The Centre for Creative Writing at the University of Oxford in England. Her awards include the Randall Jarrell Poetry Prize, an Academy of American Poets’ University Prize, The Columbia Book Award, an EMMA award for excellence in journalism, and multiple grants.

 

Photography by: Manki Kim