Conversation
By Laura Lee Washburn

It’s just money
It’s just legislation
It’s just sexism, just bullying
just knowing scapegoating.

Show me the damn sheep,
bouncing lamb, the peacock
announcing heaven.

The refuge of art
is a false one. See Germany.
See rise of the Nazis,
history of the Spanish cathedral,
history of the land and the castle.

But often I can’t stand
my own anger anymore.
There’s no winning. No
pills for this. Tell me again
how the bee flew into your hair.

Tell me again how
you wore the red shoes.
Tell me again that Papa
holds the baby, how
you fold clothes, how

how you get it done.

Laura Lee Washburn is the Director of Creative Writing at Pittsburg State University in Kansas, and the author of This Good Warm Place: 10th Anniversary Expanded Edition (March Street) and Watching the Contortionists (Palanquin Chapbook Prize). Her poetry has appeared in such journals as Cavalier Literary Couture, Carolina Quarterly, Ninth Letter, The Sun, Red Rock Review and Valparaiso Review. Born in Virginia Beach, Virginia, she has also lived and worked in Arizona and in Missouri. She is married to the writer Roland Sodowsky, plays an active role in the activities of her local NOW chapter, and is one of the founders and the Co-President of the Board of SEK Women Helping Women.