Four Poems by Sister Lou Ella Hickman

muse

i am the voice who whispers . . .

when i speak the words unfold

then dance in a single line

one after another as she listens . . .

i am the she of her

i am the mystery she cannot not follow

i am difficult as stone

I am easy as dust

i am indifferent to all she thinks she knows

yet mirror what she will learn to see

for i am her eyes her breathing her thirst

for i pound in her blood like moonshine




passages


today

the sun did not hurry on her way

but ticked tocked down

down . . .

twilight gone

the moon vanished

my bath the bowl’s pool of night

as darkness breathes out her stars

tomorrow’s sunrise also will not hurry--

her steady heart beating light

that will begin her daily journey

these are the hinges of time

where i discover my own heartbeat

my own will-not-hurry mystery




among the ashes: a tiny red suitcase found after a house fire


most people die breathing the smoke

rather than from burns . . .

in what was left of her room

a tiny suitcase was found

no doubt a gift for a child and her doll . . .

the news reported a dyer short circuited

a child and her doll running to escape

but there were bars on the windows . . .

among the ashes

a body

a tiny red suitcase

smoke often lingers




blood and stars


thanks to my blood thinner

my bumps and scrapes explode into purple . . .

as they heal

the purple slowly fades into rings

then disappear

into the universe of my skin

like falling stars

Sister Lou Ella Hickman has a master’s in theology from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio and is a former teacher and librarian. She is a certified spiritual director as well as a poet and writer. Her poems have appeared in numerous magazines such as America, First Things, Emmanuel, Third Wednesday, and new verse news as well as in four anthologies: The Night’s Magician: Poems about the Moon, edited by Philip Kolin and Sue Brannan Walker, Down to the Dark River edited by Philip Kolin, Secrets edited by Sue Brannan Walker and After Shocks: The Poetry of Recovery for Life-Shattering Events edited by Tom Lombardo. She was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2017 and in 2020. Her first book of poetry entitled she: robed and wordless was published in 2015. (Press 53.) On May 11, 2021, five poems from her book which had been set to music by James Lee III were performed by the opera star Susanna Phillips, star clarinetist Anthony McGill, pianist Mayra Huang at Y92 in New York City. The group of songs is entitled “Chavah’s Daughters Speak.”