Poetry, Essays, and Reflections

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MARE LEONARD: Poet & Educator

Mare (a.k.a. Mary) Leonard's poem "La dernière danse des poulets" has just been nominated for The Pushcart Prize, an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best poetry, short fiction, essays, etc. published by small presses. Mare also shares her poem "In the Backseat of the Limo."

La dernière danse des poulet​
© Mary Leonard

For Rachel
​
On the Île Saint-Louis  two chickens
            roost in a butcher's window,
  a still life before the blue pan heats
            in Grand-mère's tidy kitchen,
   in an ancient village on the Seine.
 
              The Resistance
grew strong here, grand-père insists.
 
 The Peugeot, loaded with Reblochon,
             truffle laced  Brie,
 cassis sorbet from Berthillon,
            almond tarts from the pâtisserie,
 sister chickens, wrapped in wax paper,
             sliding in their box.
 No soft straw, they clack in disbelief.
 
After a long night with rooster,
            (that beast of the yard) he never let up,
the sisters consoled each other,
             bac bac    bac bac
They sang in tender duets, reached the high notes
             until their breasts collapsed
 
 Grand-mère greets la famille, lifts the chickens
             into the roaster, legs crossed over each other,
 correct in pirouettes, toes tapping at the barre,
            doing what they love.
             
            Their legs relax, sizzle when sautéed
 when onions surround them,
             hum when Grand-mère adjusts
 their wings, sigh when she pours  
            the Sancerre,
pokes and pulls their legs apart
             into perfect jambes.
 
Previously published in The Pickled Body  (Winter 2018)

In the Backseat of the Limo
​                 © Mary Leonard

Dad's in the middle, Mom on his right. I'm on his left
We follow the hearse filled with  American Beauties,
Baby's Breathe. A cascade of life.
 
Dad  in advanced Alzheimer's sees the roses and asks,
"Who died?"
"Caroline died." The beautiful charming, smart girl, your first child who could ride the waves, sweep the ball over the net, roller and ice skate, laugh until she cried, bake a perfect cheese cake, be mistaken for Audrey Hepburn. My older sister. My only sister. 
 
I don't say any of the above. I didn't even think the above. 
 
Every two  minutes Dad asks, "Who died?"  The first time it felt like a knife slicing open my heart. The pain lessened to punches, to bangs on the head, to the fear before falling,
to a screaming nightmare.
 
"Dad, Dad, what do you remember about Caroline"?
"Who?"
"Your daughter, Caroline."
"Your first child."
"Oh."
"Your daughter who died."

Previously published in Unbroken  (2017)

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Mare C. Leonard is a poet, humorist, teacher and journalist. Her poems, essays, short fiction, and mixed genre pieces have been published in numerous journals, including Hubbub, The Chronogram and Blotterature. She is also the author of five chapbooks. Mary was a finalist in the Hill-Stead Museum's Poetry Contest, and she won first prize in the Lucy Cady Lamphier Contest.

Mary has been a dedicated teacher for decades and is known to leave an indelible impression on her students. She has taught at every level, from public high school to Trinity College in Hartford, CT. Since 1988, she has been an associate of the Institute for Writing and Thinking at Bard College, where she taught incoming freshmen in the Language and Thinking program from 1990 through 1998. For years, she has taught a summer program for students in grades 10 through 12 at Bard College at Simon's Rock. The Young Writers Workshop is now part of the National Writing and Thinking Network, the largest consortium of summer writing programs in the country. 

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