Lisa Stice - Headstrong (United States)

from #BreakTheBias by Various

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about

Lisa Stice is a poet/mother/military spouse, the author of three full-length poetry collections, Forces (Middle West Press, 2021), Permanent Change of Station (Middle West Press, 2018), and Uniform (Aldrich Press, 2016), and a chapbook, Desert (Prolific Press, 2018).

She is an award-winning poet who volunteers as a mentor with the Veterans Writing Project, as Poetry Editor for Inklette Magazine, as Poetry Editor for The Military Spouse Book Review, and as a writer for the Military Spouse Fine Artists Network (Milspo-FAN).

While it is difficult to say where home is, she currently lives in North Carolina with her husband, daughter and dog. You can learn more about her publications at lisastice.wordpress.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/LisaSticePoet
Twitter: twitter.com/LisaSticePoet

lyrics

HEADSTRONG

I’m sorry catches in the throat
and bruises in that wavering
hesitation like a rock falling
back to earth. See how it curves
under the skin, twists and cuts
as it hugs the voice box.

I forgive sways like a tamarack—
hackmatack, red larch, juniper,
larix laricina—of the low-lands
with roots in cool mud and branches
in the soft air where we hold
the belief we are stronger than wind.

The end is as blue as slag and twice
as worthless. This is where I say
I never meant it, and this is where
you say it doesn’t matter anymore
because words are less than
clouds and leaves and stone.

credits

from #BreakTheBias, released March 8, 2022
CREDITS:
Headstrong is taken from the collection 'Forces' (Middle West Press, 2021).
www.middlewestpress.com/2021/10/poet-explores-life-in-balance-tension.html

It first appeared in The Wrath-Bearing Tree, January 2018.