Theresa Rogers
Theresa Rogers is a Vancouver-based poet and teacher who spends part of her year in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Her poems have appeared in the English Bay Review, Uppagus, Cape Cod Poetry Review, Cape Cod Times poetry page, Cathexis Northwest, San Diego Reader and Vancouver City Poems (second prize, emerging poets). Her chapbook is forthcoming from Kelsay Books. She received an MFA in poetry from Antioch, LA and serves on the board of poetry in canada and as poetry editor for Cape Cod Review. theresarogerspoet.com
Ode to the Tri-state area
I want to write/a check in the express lane – Kevin Young
I want to swing under a branch
of that liberty apple tree
swim through blue-green algae
and snap back at turtles
I want to collect bullfrogs to mate
in giant dill pickle jars
before freeing the tadpoles
and glinting fireflies too
I want to make toys of wooden
spools and rubber-bands
in my stepfather’s workshop
and play in the deep woods
with boys before they learn
to lunge all sweat and tongue
I want to Hula-hoop in the driveway
with my best friend and fill up
our bike tires and ride to Caldor’s
to pocket gum and lip gloss
I want a mirror vanity for my room
Scotch tape poetry on the walls
climb up the rusted water tower
to scan life beyond this town
I want to drink from a fat white
coffee mug rich with Coffee mate
take the Metro line to the city and learn
to drive to Jones Beach in the Chevy
and away from the house where I still
smell the honeysuckle from my window
