Susan Isla Tepper is a twenty-year writer and the author of 11 published books of fiction and poetry and 5 stage plays. She has been nominated 21 times for the Pushcart Prize in both fiction and poetry. Her play ‘Crooked Heart’ concerning artist Jackson Pollock premiered on October 25, 2022 at the Irish Repertory Theatre in NYC. Adapted from an earlier novel, it was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Another play, LADY IN A POST BOX, co-written with poet and writer Ciaran O’Driscoll is moving toward production in Ireland. Tepper’s Novel satire titled ‘Office’ has been released as a Second Edition by Wilderness House Press. A new Novel ‘Hair of a Fallen Angel’ will be out in the winter. Susan is a Brand Ambassador for The Galway Review. http://www.susantepper.com
Two Sprouting
after W.F. Lantry
On the subject of desire
I went to the multi-trunk
oak in the yard
Picking two, appropriately
where it formed a V
Scratching words in bark
with my knife
into trunks
almost too slim
for such dizzying heights.
Scrawling the same lines twice.
So as not to slight
the one over the other.
My own twin didn’t make it.
A brother, died in the womb.
For decades
unbeknownst to me.
I yearned for a twin
with such passion,
telling my mother so,
from an early age, repeatedly.
An aunt, overhearing my lament
one day
let the truth slip out.
I grew up tall and singular
with scarce breast tissue.
Much later, during a time
of great distress
a fortune teller on 78th Street
joyously proclaimed:
You’ve been born with a male spirit.
Judith A. Lawrence was the editor/publisher of River Poets Journal for several decades. She is also a prolific painter and has had numerous poems published in anthologies and literary magazines. She has five published books: Point of Comfort, a Memoir, Uncharted Territories, a book of 20 short stories, The Metamorphoses of Connie Toscano, a Novella, Remembrance, a book of 50 Poems, The IRS Chronicles, a comedic take on IRS Examiner Training, and The Lafourche River Murder, a Mystery/Thriller scheduled to be published July, 2024. All books are available on amazon.com.
She is currently working on a sequel to the Mystery/Thriller, and a book of short poems, Moonbeams, containing her watercolors.
Judith lives in Florida with her pet Piccolo, a spoiled Shih Tzu.
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