Here’s some examples of our autobiographical catalog poems, after Lisel Mueller’s “Curriculum Vitae.”
By Erin Mahon
1. To the water we walked, his strong hand engulfs mine. Seeing me smile, he deems wasting fine. After all it’s just bread, and that’s not a crime.
2. I arrive clad in grey, in a sea of dark blue. But I’m not upset, for what’s a difference in hue?
3. I watched his brown eyes droop, and breath come to halt. I saw Captain leave us, ’twas nobody’s fault.
4. My mom and I laughing, it’s then that I see,
A profound realization, I’m her and she’s me.
5. It’s rectangular plastic, independence tastes fantastic.
6. We’ve just become close, yet soon I’ll be leaving. “Don’t be fooled,” I console her, “I, too, am grieving.”
1.) Love-my mother rocking me to the smooth voice of Diana Krall
2.) Waking up in the morning to freshly made waffles-slightly burnt and heavily buttered
3.) The taste of wild raspberries
4.) My grandfather’s crooked fingers curling around mine
5.) Years blend together in a jumbled mural of adolescence
6.) A friend moves, then another-I realize the sting of change
7.) Showing my moody middle school poetry to a boy in math class
8.) Knowing my voice
9.) Losing it
10.) The sound of the light rail passing by my bedroom window
11.) Blue fingernails
12.) The power of a choice
13.) Waiting for a wild storm to make flowers bloom
14.) The first drop of rain.