Maureen Foley

Green

A repetition consists of two things-
A repetition consists of two things-
The same thing the same thing- The eternal
repetition of labor, work, the job,
hair growth, beard, shaving
Plant the calendula seeds.
Plant the winter garden in September.
Attack the plants and till the ground.
The bottles of wine- The schedule
that prohibits- The scholarship-
“This week I only got 14 hours.”
Her element is green- The sea if you
take away the blue- Dissolve- Disagreeable-
Pattern- Green is absent in cities-
Color shapes our understanding-
Go green- Kelp- Leaves of grass-
I sing green- Chile verde- Candles in the
hallway of a dark house- Take away houses
from the equation- Take away parents from
the equation- Lean toward the places that
you know- An academic is supposedly smart.
But they miss the green- Emerald art- Where
is the romance? My last day- We discovered
his lies at the Chinese restaurant- I could use
a little room, a little space- Stop the issue of what
should be forced.

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Maureen Foley is a writer, artist and teacher. Her writing has been published in Caesura, Skanky Possum, Bombay Gin and elsewhere. Her freelance journalism has appeared in the The New York Times, Wired, Santa Barbara Magazine, Destination Wine Country and others. In 2002, her collection of poems, Epileptic, was published by Dead Metaphor Press as winner of the Chapbook Award. She also received an MFA from Naropa University. This year, Urban Velo and Boneshaker: A Bicycling Almanac are publishing two excerpts from her memoir manuscript, Smidge and Space Go West: A Bicycling Adventure. She currently lives on an avocado ranch in Southern California with her husband, writer James Claffey, and their cattle dog, Rua.