In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 25.3 (2004) 5-7


[Access article in PDF]

A Photograph Dated 1927

Anesa Miller

This one is of two women
when they were little girls,
so chastened, they cannot raise their eyes.
Sisters, arranged like stair-steps.
Rivals, arms around the other's
shoulders—her neck.

Behind—an open landscape
beyond the edge of town,
An emptiness known
As southwest Nebraska.
Outside the frame,
Grandfather's house.

Alien natives! Are they
dressed for trick or treat
in broad pantaloons
And gauzy shawls, with
elfish pointed shoes
to turn up tiny feet—?

No—churchwomen gave no finery
for heathen holidays.
Tho' of a sweltering summer
mission gifts might be allowed
to array wild prairie girls
like Punjabi princesses.

But dress-up brings no joy.
Was this the day when sisters learned
One summer was too long? Next year [End Page 5]


Click for larger view		 Figure 1
Original drawing by Lonnie Rosenberg.
[End Page 6]
they'll be old enough for aunts
to fetch them separately,
on separately bound trains.

If only for this moment,
clinging close, they can resist
the urge to turn and yank each other's hair,
they'll prove how fond they are,
and stay side by side forever
on the distant film of someone's heart.

Anesa Miller's poetry, fiction, and essays have appeared in The Cream City Review, Kenyon Review, Earth's Daughters, and elsewhere. She holds a PhD in Russian language and literature and has also published scholarly articles and translations. A native of Wichita, Kansas, Miller now makes her home in Bowling Green, Ohio. She has received a creative writing fellowship from the Ohio Arts Council.


...

pdf

Share