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Sharon Cumberland

"My poems are both funny and spiritual--how's that for a combination?"

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MY HOUSEMATE BOWS A THOUSAND TIMES

By Sharon Cumberland

                                    for Geun-Ae Park

It’s what they do at her Korean temple

when something is amiss with the spirit:

kneel, bend head to rug,

lift hands palms up

then stand again,

like a river flowing backward,

before falling forward once more

on your knees

in a smooth wave.

She will do this a thousand times

to expiate the anger in her breast

at her professor, who makes her work

long hours in the laboratory

who shouts at her,

takes credit for her research—the man

she tries not to hate.

If she bows a thousand times

he will shrink in the waves of worship

that wash her soul.

It takes twelve hours

to bow away the man

who tries to bend her

to his will.

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Poems

LIPSTICK

I DREAMED OF MY MOTHER’S CLOTHES

MAN WHO WANTS YOU

MARRIAGE AT CANA

UNREASONABLE WOMAN

TWENTY YOUNG MEN

THE DAY NO ONE DIED

KYRIE PANTOKRATOR

MY HOUSEMATE BOWS A THOUSAND TIMES

BEFORE

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