Erin Belieu Poems

I've known the pleasures of being
fired at least eleven times—

most notably by Larry who found my snood
...

When I think of the many people
who privately despise children,
I can't say I'm completely shocked,
...

Mother, I'm trying
to write
a poem to you—
...

This hideous,
upholstered in gift-wrap fabric, chromed
in places, design possibility

for the future canned ham.
...

at the altarpiece of Saint Teresa

No need to be coy—
you know what
she's doing
...

Make your daily monument the Ego,
use a masochist's epistemology
of shame and dog-eared certainty
that others less exacting might forgo.
...

Some of us
are chum.

Some of us
are the come-hither
...

Field is pause field is plot field is red chigger bump where

the larvae feed corn wig curled in your ear. Field cares not

a fig for your resistance though kindly gently lay your
...

Omaha, Nebraska They do not sleep nights
but stand between

rows of glowing corn and
cabbages grown on acres past
...

Come, Lord, and lift the fallen bird
Abandoned on the ground;
The soul bereft and longing so
To have the lost be found…
...