Linda Laderman
Linda Laderman is a Michigan poet and writer. Her poetry has appeared in numerous literary journals, including The Burningword Literary Journal, SWWIM, ONE ART, Thimble Literary Magazine, The Scapegoat Review, Rust &Moth, Minyan Magazine, 3rd Wednesday, and Mom Egg Review. She has work forthcoming from Action, Spectacle and Quartet Journal. She is the 2023 recipient of Harbor Review’s Jewish Women’s Prize and was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her mini-chapbook, What I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know, can be found online at https://www.harbor-review.com/what-i-didnt-know-i-didnt-know. Find her at lindaladerman.com.
Night Shade
I think of the bed I shared with my mother’s
mother, the steadiness of her breath
quieting my body, masking the commotion
outside the bedroom door.
She’d smooth my hair and sing
Geh Schlafen Shayna Madela
in a language she spoke only in private.
We’d shut our eyes and imagine
the cacophony of night voices
to be a puppet show or party in the yard
next door where vegetation grew with intention,
each species fenced inside its own space
to stop the bindweeds from choking
the garden’s fruits before they ripened.
