Ellaraine Lockie

2007 Creekwalker Poetry Prize Finalist

Ellaraine Lockie's poetry has appeared in journals, anthologies, magazines and 
broadsheets in the U. S., Canada, England, Ireland and Greece.  Six of her poems were 
nominated in 2002 and one in 2003 for Pushcart Prizes, and she has received a couple 
hundred poetry awards.  Her chapbook, Midlife Muse, won Poetry Forum’s annual 
chapbook contest and was published there in 2000.  Two chapbooks have recently been 
released:  Coloring Outside the Lines by the Plowman (Canada) and Crossing the Center 
Line by Sweet Annie Press.

In addition to poetry, Ellaraine Lockie writes nonfiction books, magazine articles/columns 
and children's stories.  Her books are All Because of a Button:  Folklore, Fact and Fiction, 
St. Johann Press and The Gourmet Paper Maker, Creative Publications (U. S.) and 
Collins and Brown (England).

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HARBINGER

How could I know
you'd be so upset
about the dead bird
on the dining table
Just a teenager
Probably out imbibing
Slugging down
pyracantha berries
Then drunk diving
the window
I kept its carcass
to share the sadness
and the beauty
Close, you could see
the red breast
bookended in black
Still, you could feel
the oil slicked feathers
Steal a sensuous stroke
Silent, you could hear
the harmony of death
But you didn't
see the sadness
or observe the beauty
You felt the fear
of a drive home
after eight
bottles of beer
Of hands shaking
in a sales meeting
Of the plastic bag
that held the bird



ONE FOR THE MONTANA ROAD

White crosses scatter the roadsides
on two-laned prairie highways
in this unbridled state
Memorials to lives lost
Obliterated by alcohol driven cars
plastered pick-up truck drivers
and no speed limits
Montana's independent spirit
manifested

White crosses aren't choosy
about whom they claim
on glacier mountain passes
Tombstones substituting for
babies, best friends, grandparents
Generations of innocents
swallowed by bottles of booze
Downed by DUI owners
who drown in a lax legal system
by a nation that road-releases them

White crosses bear witness
on graveled country roads
to the buried who bought the farms
Testimonials to suicides
and manslaughters
Vigiled with flowers by loved ones
Viewed by motorists as billboards
Advertisements for prevention
Slogans that deter decisions to have
one for the Montana road



SOUVENIRS

It’s downtown International Food Day
where culinary expertise and ethnic clothes
are exhibited by countless cultures
An occasion I also concede to fashion
Souvenirs of a Bali foray
finding their way to my wardrobe

A batik tablecloth turned kamben*
wraps me in memories
of a public cremation
Where a lax knot relocated my kamben
to an assemblage around my ankles

Coconut shell earrings
summon sugary water
drunk straight from the fruit
Before the sweetmeat shredded into ebat**
and blended with aromatic spices

A silver serpent bracelet reflects the flames
from burning animal shaped effigies
that housed remains of exhumed bodies
Their Hindu spirits finally released
To circulate with perfumed smoke
of clove cigarettes and waiting ancestors

Which reminds me
that my family’s hereafter ancestor
is holding up our downtown dinner
Digressions dismissed to my scrapbook
Bracelet’s shine blocked by shade of a sleeve
And kamben tied plus pin secured
Panties on just in case


*A piece of cloth that traditional Balinese wear as a lower body wrap.
**An elaborate meal consisting of five main dishes and optional side
dishes for special occasions, such as cremations.


© Copyright Ellaraine Lockie. All Rights Reserved.