Poem-A-Day: Permanence by Denise Duhamel

Permanence by Denise Duhamel     The barista at the coffee shop is covered in tattoos. She says there are only two ways they hold her back. 1. She can't work at Starbucks. 2. She can't wear a corsage, since she'd just be way too busy, and this makes me laugh. She says no to gifts from prom dates--the wrist corsage, the pinned corsage; no to bridal bouquets, the get-well-soon carnations. One day soon her mother will insist on sympathy wreaths around her coffin, which is closed, lest she be confused with the flowers.        Copyright © 2013 by Denise Duhamel. Used with permission of the author.     About This Poem "I wrote this poem after hearing Margaret Cho in an interview off-handedly make a joke about her many tattoos--she said that she couldn't really carry a corsage because she'd clash with it. I laughed, but she also made me think about woman-as-flower, and that led me to the rest."    --Denise Duhamel Most Recent Book by Duhamel Blowout (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2013)   Poem-A-Day Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-A-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Browse the Poem-A-Day Archive. June 24, 2013 Denise Duhamel is the author of several books of poetry including Blowout (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2013). She is also the guest editor of the forthcoming The Best American Poetry 2013 (Scribner). Duhamel teaches at Florida International University. Related Poems Erotic Energy by Chase Twichell From Blossoms by Li-Young Lee Wildflower by Stanley Plumly   Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.

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