Emily’s Handwriting
Surprised me
So sure it would be cramped, neat
As her bedroom must have been
Though why my supposings leaned
That way,
I ask myself.
No,
It’s loose limbed penmanship
Penwomanoceanliner free
And unpredictable
As waves.
Capital A’s as large as omelets,
Loops of lowercase h’s and f’s
Longing as trebles,
Wild as clefs.
Getting Over Clint Eastwood
Too pretty for me as a young man,
even with your grungy cowboy scowls.
But
I loved you in “In the Line of Fire”
with that grim determination
to catch the assassin.
I would sit next to you
on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
any day.
I knew I was middle-aged when
I fell for you in
The Bridges of Madison County.
You could drive up to my door in the middle of nowhere
and rest your camera in the summer heat
any day.
But when you talked to the empty chair
at the Republican convention,
I left you for
Agent Gibbs.
© Anne Higgins
Anne Higgins teaches at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Eight books of her poetry have been published: At the Year’s Elbow, Scattered Showers in a Clear Sky, Pick It Up and Read, How the Hand Behaves, Digging for God, Vexed Questions, Reconnaissance, and Life List. Her poems have been featured frequently on The Writer’s Almanac.
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