Susan Isla Tepper is a twenty-year writer and the author of 11 published books of fiction and poetry and 3 stage plays. “The Crooked Heart” her play concerning artist Jackson Pollock in his later years was premiered as a staged reading on October 25, 2022 at The Irish Repertory Theatre in NYC. Tepper’s new satirical Novel ‘Office’ about working in a skyscraper during the ‘Lockdown’ is her most current book (Wilderness House Press). Another Novel titled ‘Hair of a Fallen Angel’ will be published in the autumn. http://www.susantepper.com

Tulips

By Susan Isla Tepper

It was Spring, yes I’m sure it was
Spring, yes, I think so—
I think there were tulips
blooming near the fence
that year it was Spring.
Yellows— I cut some
to bring inside for the supper table.
It was all I could do that Spring.
I couldn’t bake scones or cakes,
whip the potatoes
season a fish
to make us a proper supper.
Lettuce leaves held under water
took me to drowning.
Spring. Tulips. All I could manage.

Bridget Seley Galway, Artist/Poet graduated from UMass Amherst with a BFA in Painting and Art Education. She received a full scholarship and was the recipient of the Binny & Smith Artistic Achievement Award. Her poems have been published in several anthologies, and her collection of poems and images “What Moments Yield”, published by Ibbetson Press, is included in several library collections. She has exhibited throughout New England; her paintings have been selected for the covers of Bagels with Bards, Ibbetson Press, and individual poet publications.