Size / / /

after Mother

died her red

dress continued

baking pies

scrubbing the toilet

beating out the rugs

"I don't even miss her"

Frank said at

the dinner plate

meat caught in

his smile

they found

him in the

smokehouse

canned with

the beans

packed neatly

in the freezer

her red dress

snapping on

a flagpole

with no

wind




C. A. Conrad's childhood included selling cut flowers along the highway for his mother and helping her shoplift. He escaped to Philadelphia the first chance he got, where he lives and writes today with the PhillySound poets. He coedits FREQUENCY Audio Journal with Magdalena Zurawski, and edits the 9for9 project. Soft Skull Press is publishing his first book of poems, titled Deviant Propulsion, available Fall 2005. He has two other forthcoming books, The Frank Poems (Jargon Society) and advancedELVIScourse (Buck Downs Books). He is the author of several chapbooks, including (end-begin w/ chants), a collaboration with Frank Sherlock. You can see more of his work in our archives and at his website: CAConrad.blogspot.com, or contact him by email at: CAConrad13@AOL.com.
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25 Mar 2024

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