two poems by kelly r. samuels






As Anna, in Eight Parts, Found



I was pictured in lilac, stepping  
with light, resolute step.  

Though there were no longer any balls that were merry. 
Only the same 
             jolting and knocking, the same snow. 

~ 

Then: fantastic light.  
The swelling noise of wings. 

A thousand follies. 
A bold, brazen cry. 

~ 

He      wants to lavish 
           will lavish 
           lavished. 

~

Dazzled, I took leave. Took in  
tender, various shades.    

~ 

But something screeched and banged terrible. 

A new, incomprehensible mood—as if sewn to me. 

As little capable of. 

~  

So: tightened strings  
on winding pegs.            Lumps of mud. 
Heavy, incomplete sleep. 

All the meanness, all the horror. 

The old curly-headed birches in the garden— 
their branches hung with snow. 

~ 

And me: a broody hen. 

A stone kept in the attic 
of a plague house.  

Present grief, solitary grief, pale  
with trembling lips.  

~ 

All the taut strings snapped. 

I threw the red bag aside.   

A little muzhik, muttering to himself, was working  
over some iron. 


I ask: Was that really me  
with the red hands? 

These cruel spectacles. 
Terrible, terrible. 





As Kitty, in Eight Parts, Found

 

I was first a pink rose among nettles. Everything 
              lit as if I were the sun, too. 

~ 

Then: grasping  
with my hands. 

Needles of hoar-frost fallen. 

~ 

I could not fix my thoughts. Blushed,  
paled, blushed again and froze. 

~ 

Later I became the gazebo 
and the bench. Light and shade. 

~ 

Then: sorting my brushes. 
Petty fussing and cares. Fuss  
about tablecloths. 

~ 

No honey in it. 

~ 

A pitiful fading moan  
after knitting. 

Waving a wilting bough. 

~ 

But now, like the ribbon: enchanting. 

              Shaking the radiant lace. 





Kelly R. Samuels is the author of two poetry collections and five chapbooks—the most recent Oblivescence, a finalist for the Edna Meudt Poetry Book Award (Red Sweater Press, 2024), and The Sailing Place (Bottlecap Press, 2026.) She is a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee with work appearing in Blue Earth Review, Denver Quarterly, West Trestle Review, and The Glacier. She lives in the Upper Midwest.