Elisabeth Murawski

Poetry

Elisabeth Murawski is the author of Heiress, Zorba’s Daughter (May Swenson Poetry Award), Moon and Mercury, and three chapbooks. Still Life with Timex won the Robert Phillips Poetry Chapbook Prize. A native of Chicago, she currently lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

 

Fantail

I sprinkle fish food from a small tin box. Not too much, or she will float. I have tried to run away from this house. It doesn’t matter to the fantail. She is graceful. I am not. We look at each other through the glass. She is shining like some star she cannot see. Her filmy wings flutter like kimono sleeves.

“ In the first house I can remember living in as a child, we had a goldfish. No other pets. I liked being allowed to feed her, but I was especially happy to think she noticed me and accepted me “as is.” My mother often called me clumsy, a tape that still runs in my head. As an adult I’ve learned that I have a mild dyslexia, a poor sense of direction, and difficulty with spatial relationships, which may have explained her frustration with me.

I did try to run away when I was 3 or 4 and told the people who found me my name was Irene. I think now I hoped a different name would prevent being returned to my family. Of course it didn’t work. I have a book coming out next year titled Alias Irene. ”

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