Jennifer O’ Neill Pickering, Pat L. Nichol and Mike Pickering
Three Questions to a Daughter, Jennifer O’Neill Pickering (first appeared in The Voices Project)
- Why did you leave?
Time won’t wait. I was born to fly away–open your hand-that is all it will carry. I wanted a room to fill with success, mistakes, jumble of drawers brimmed with scarves from Paris and Hampton Court, promise of love, my mess, my order a quiet place.
- Why did you leave with a musician?
His music plays in the key that unlocks my heart.
- Why have you chosen this drafty Victorian–rooms without furniture, stubborn windows that once open, refuse to close, a temperamental stove, lack of heat?
The rooms are furnished with light, through the windows float the delta breeze that chimes the ancient elms–his arms are the only blanket I need, I grow fat on love–because this is enough.
Camille Claudel, Patricia L. Nichol
looking at her slantwise
I see a human being
full of darkness,
light, and shadow
looking at her edgewise
I see no face, only rage
only a wild and unpredictable,
changing soul
there is a brilliance in her shadow
as she seeks
to overcome womanly restrictions
with their full skirts
looking at her straight-on
I am astonished at her beauty
at her fractiousness
at her stunning fragility
Michael Pickering- is a singer/songwriter who has preformed at the World’s Fair, the University of Redlands, and in and around Sacramento. He has published poetry in Rattlesnake Press, Sable & Quill, Late Peaches and received an Award of Merit from the Atlanta Review. He is also, a visual artist and an educator. He is working on a CD of his music.