Susan Isla Tepper is a twenty-year writer and the author of 11 published books of fiction and poetry and 2 stage plays. Her new satirical Novel titled ‘Office’ is forthcoming from Wilderness House Press this month. Another Novel titled ‘Hair of a Fallen Angel’ will be published by Cervena Barva Press in the spring. Tepper is currently in the production phase of her play ‘The Crooked Heart concerning artist Jackson Pollock in his later years. It will present as a stage reading this month at the Irish Repertory Theatre in NYC.
http://www.susantepper.com

Poplars

The poplars near the tracks
seemed unconcerned
with other than charting
a crooked growth skyward,
while we of the tattered house
froze and nearly starved.
My brothers were sent
to gather coal chunks
shed by trains coming through
on a less frequent basis.
Finally, the oldest found a job
at a local butcher
generous with scrap-cuts.
Still, said my mother looking weary.
Her eyes brimming from steam
from the stew pot her accent
slurring the words:
I feel as we are like the wandering dogs.

Patricia Parkinson’s writing ca. be found in numerous magazines online and in print. This is her first photo collaboration. She is honoured to be working with Susan Tepper’s powerful poem. Currently she is writing about her struggles with mental illness in her memoir, Naked Beneath My Robe.