Klein's Patricia Thompson

By Sandi K. Johnson

When my tongue was still

hog-tied from Liberia’s civil war,

you unknotted my colloquialism and syntax, 

creased out contorted conjunctions,

and prepositions.

You crocheted and blanketed

adjectives that bespoke my heart 

as you hemmed the wounds of my poetry.

You said, “Let your words fly, so what if

everyone can’t reach that high?”

Thus, with your elongated eulogies

and soliloquies, I arose;

eloped in a cathedral train, leaving in my dust

bleeding stitches of a war.

_________________________________________

Sandi K. Johnson

Naturalized U.S. citizen from Liberia. She is a cross-genre writer and English professor in Texas. Holds a BA & MA in English from Mt. Mary University and an MFA in Poetry from Carlow University. Published works: National Book Foundation, Solstice Literary Magazine, The Bayou Review, Watershed Journal, Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry, Northern Appalachia Review, and elsewhere. Awards: 2009 Solstice Institute for Diverse Voices Prize and the 2021 Stephen Dunn Poetry Prize. Forthcoming publications: Dubeloving Anthology for Immigrant Writers from Dublin, Ireland and Flip The Script Publishing for the Darling Nikki: An Anthology Series, Volume 2 coming out December 2026.