ÿþÿþÿþÿþÿþÿþÿþÿþ <html> <head> <title>Nancy Means Wright - Aunt Beulah Won’t Take a Walk at Waterbury, a poem</title> <meta name="keywords" content="Nancy Means Wright, Mary Wollstonecraft, 18th-century, Women's rights, Ruth Willmarth, Amateur sleuth, Romance, suspense, mystery, Poems, novels for adults and young adults, Unitarian, Ireland, London, Paris, Mad Season, Harvest of Bones, Poison Apples, Stolen Honey, Mad Cow Nightmare, Pea Soup Poisonings, Down The Strings, books, mysteries"> <meta name="description" content="Nancy Means Wright is the author of the Ruth Willmarth series (St Martin s) and Mary Wollstonecraft historical mystery series (Perseverance Press)."> </head> <body link="#008000" vlink="#808000" alink="#FFFF00" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> <table border="0" width="700" cellpadding="5"> <tr> <td valign="top" background="images/stratus.jpg" rowspan="3" width="120"> <table border="0" width="100%"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="100%"><font color="#808000"><img 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readers)</a></font></b> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%"><b><font face="Arial" size="2"><a href="mailto:nancymeanswright@gmail.com">Contact Nancy</a></font></b> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p><img src="images/clear-dot.gif" width="120" height="1"></p> </td> <td width="580" valign="top"><img border="0" src="images/nancy_means_wright.gif" align="right" width="371" height="41" alt="Nancy Means Wright"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="580"> <ul> <h3><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif">AUNT BEULAH WON’'T TAKE<br>A WALK AT WATERBURY*</font></h3> <p><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif">She wears salmon, my father's aunt:<br> she's a sun crumbling under a raggedy<br> peak, her hair is an ochre cloud—  </font></p> <p><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif"><i>very like a whale& </i> A wave ready<br> to scuttle back to its murky deeps,<br> she breaks on my shore. <i>Aunt Beulah?</i></font></p> <p><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif"><i>I'’m taking you out for a walk.</i><br> But her feet lock in the split black shoes.<br> She quit speaking long before Uncle</font></p> <p><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif">died, my aunt: her face snapped shut<br> at the inquest like a pale pink purse.<br> She was sketching when he groaned</font></p> <p><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif">his last (he'd laugh at her paintings,<br> master at humor). They never caught<br> the killer. Her room at Waterbury</font></p> <p><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif">clutches with sea things: charcoal<br> crabs with cobalt eyes and pea-green<br> shrimp squeezing out of crimson shells  </font></p> <p><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif">the shrinks can't get to the bottom of it.<br> <i>Just for half an hour promise!</i><br> But Aunt goes on stabbing</font></p> <p><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif">a hot pink husk with her pointed brush<br> till the hull is a streaky black<br> like dark sliding over water</font></p> <p><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif">and it seems that nothing is there& <br> but listen: and hear the suck<br> of sand as it swallows the sea. **</font></p> <p align="right"><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif">by Nancy Means Wright</font></p> </ul> <p><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif">&nbsp; *Waterbury is a Vermont state mental hospital<br> **Published originally in <i>Green Mountains Review</i></font></p> <p>&nbsp;</p></td> </tr> <tr valign="bottom"> <td width="580"> <p align=center><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">&copy; Copyright 2001 - 2011, Nancy Means Wright. All rights reserved.</font></p> <p align=center><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2">This site maintained by<br> T.D. Bennett Group, Inc.</font></p> </td> </tr> </table> </body> </html>