Tilly Shaw

Divider image

Tilly Washburn Shaw is a New Englander by birth, who came West to Santa Cruz in mid-life to join in founding UC Santa Cruz in the late 60's. Before then, she taught at Douglas College of Rutgers and Yale University. When younger, she published a book on three modern poets and later began writing poetry herself. Her first collection of poems, "Swimming Closer to Shore," was published by Hummingbird Press in 2002.


HANGING OUT IN THE ORDINARY

It was an impromptu meal,
food only so-so-
rice that stuck to the pot, chicken
chewy, a bit pale, broccoli
not at the top of its color- 
yet all of it satisfying.

We talked on through the cleaning up,
myself slouched in a kitchen chair
while my friend scraped plates,
speaking more slowly as she put away food,
wiped the surfaces, stopped for a
demurral, soon answering herself again.
Neither of us in a hurry-always
trying to figure out what we might
be after-words forever struggling
with  wordlessness.  Continually
turning over what
bothered us, and passing it
back and forth. 
         Nor were we finished
when we parted.  The plates we'd
cleaned and stacked, left shelved,
already waiting-anticipating already-
the next go-around.

©2008 by Tilly Shaw    
 

Divider image