The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • Workshops
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead

Caught Unaware, by Margo Davis

10/19/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
New Jersey, 1982, photography by Helen Levitt (USA) 1982

Caught Unaware                             
                         
How revealing. A woman roots    
 
between the car seats for her folded twenty or the severed limb  
of a sleepytime pet that her man  
          
had yanked free for Becky or Andrew or Tina Marie. Or perhaps  
it’s the house key fallen off its ring.  
 
Or say she digs for the ignition key he’ll need before night shift.   
 
On she tunnels, cussing, confident  
she has no audience. As she dives deeper a street photographer  
 
captures her bottom full as a bloated  
moon, opened parachute, or lumpy cushion bursting at its seams.  
 
Almost intimate, the slow way she  
 
wriggles out the car door. Her sociological dig unearths a missing  
button from a faded hand-me-down   
 
handed off, granite gum wads and a moldy grape jelly glaze. Yet  
another thankless task for a woman  
 
who had aptitude, got things done. Hadn’t she been there for her  
 
family and neighbors who now stare 
with the cold eye of news reporters? What, she says, what is it.  
 
For once, no comeback as Fishy  
Ms. Effie wipes stray whiskers with the back of her damp hand   
 
while old man Lis openly smirks. 
 
If this woman sees her car in a Helen Levitt exhibit, will she  
recognize this side of herself?        

Margo Davis

Margo Davis finds herself often returning to her first love, ekphrastic poetry, for its rich narrative. Recent poems have appeared in The Ekphrastic Review, Deep South Magazine, and MockingHeart Review. A three-time Pushcart nominee, Margo's forthcoming chapbook will be published by Finishing Line Press in late-fall.  

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    The Ekphrastic Review
    Picture
    Current Prompt
    COOKIES/PRIVACY
    This site uses cookies to deliver your best navigation experience this time and next. Continuing here means you consent to cookies. Thank you.
    Join us on Facebook:
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture



    ​
    ​Archives
    ​

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Lorette C. Luzajic theekphrasticreview@gmail.com 

  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • Workshops
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead