by Tammy Robacker
Still, I sang love songs
for him. I ate sliced calf liver
smothered in sharp mustard.
I nipped spiced liqueur
before the tortes. Snorted
pinches of a tingly, brown
magic dust. What a rush
of his snuff! To be so high,
but so young. But I didn’t know
any better. I loved him. Of course
I petted the smooth Singvogel
out of its cage while he cooked
worse things up in the kitchen,
while he planned and cooed.
I carried on and on for my Opa,
Ick Liebe Dick! Ick Liebe Dick!
to make my way through.
Tammy Robacker graduated from the Rainier Writing Workshop MFA program in Creative Writing, Poetry at Pacific Lutheran University (2016). She won the 2015 Keystone Chapbook Prize for her manuscript, “R”. Her second poetry book, Villain Songs, is forthcoming with ELJ Editions in Winter 2017. Tammy published her first collection of poetry, The Vicissitudes, in 2009 (Pearle Publications) with a generous TAIP grant award for poetry. Tammy’s poetry has appeared in or is forthcoming in Alyss, Lumen, FRiGG, Tinderbox, Menacing Hedge, Chiron Review, Duende, So to Speak, Crab Creek Review, WomenArts, and many more journals. Tammy was born in Germany, raised in Pennsylvania, and currently lives in Oregon with her fiance. Visit the poet: tammyrobacker.com
Ovenbird Poetry 