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INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zed) Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with with permission permission of the of copyright the copyright owner. owner.Further reproductionFurther reproduction prohibited without prohibited permission. without permission. ANCIENT WITH WAITING by Jennifer M. Pierson submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of The American University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Chair: Henry Taylor Kermit Moyer Myra^ Sklarew Dean of 'the College of Arts and Sciences p _ ? _______ 1996 The American University 77S0 Washington, D.C. 2 0016 CHS AMERICAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 1381554 Copyright 1996 by Pierson, Jennifer M. All rights reserved. UMI Microform 1381554 Copyright 1996, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. @ COPYRIGHT by JENNIFER M. PIERSON 1996 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. DEDICATION Thank you Stuart for your loving faith and Emily for your patience while growing up. This book is dedicated to my sisters Leslie and Joan because I do not know their stories. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ANCIENT WITH WAITING BY JENNIFER M. PIERSON ABSTRACT We are each part of Spirit: the First Light and stars, gases, flame, the rocks and ooze that formed, in one unbroken chain of remembering, our physical selves. I once gave a strand of my hair to a psychic to help her "see" my history. She described a dinosaur with thick spectacles reading from an old book. I am reading the story of language that I may use its root to heal our pained distance from Spirit. I am ancient with waiting for reunion. My poems are not easy; reading them, your eyes may weary. Yet they bear the numinous presence that stood beside me when I was three, my mother's hands gripping my throat. They bear angels who "take their sacrament. .from the bold sigh of a man left in a corner to die but who is still alive." "Trees of prolonged healing.... that call us to their arms." ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: "What Makes Me Invisible" was printed in The Party Train, an anthology of American Prose Poets by New Rivers Press, 1996. "Ship of Fools, Velasquez's Dwarves" can be found in Poems That Thump In The Dark. Issue 4, Winter 1994. "To Be Norwegian" is forthcoming from COTTON GIN. "Watching" was printed in CPU Review in April 1994. "A Modern Day David In a Cafe" was printed in Issue 2, March 1995 of OYSTER BOY REVIEW. "Faith" was published by Red Tail Press in its anthology, More Than Animals. 1994. "Letters From The Evaporated City" is forthcoming from OYSTER BOY REVIEW. "The Unobserved" will be published by The MacGuffin in 1997. "Hijo De Puta" was printed in CPU Review in 1994. THE GEORGETOWN REVIEW published "The Hallelujah Band" in its Fall 1995 edition. "The Territory Of Dreams" (formerly "What Is The Territory...") won Second Place in the 1993 annual competition from HALF TONES TO JUBILEE. Finally, "The Important Things" first appeared in VOICES, vol 4, 1993. It can also be found in the 1995 anthology of Washington area poets entitled Hungry As We Are. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OP CONTENTS ABSTRACT............................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................... iii THE INSIDE BOX Penance.......................................... 2 What Makes Me Invisible.......................... 3 The Weight She Carries........................... 5 Hidden Shelter................................... 7 The Inside Box................................... 8 Off Columbus Circle.............................. 9 The Nest........................................ 10 In The End I Was Always Yours.................... 11 Lesson.......................................... 13 True Air....................................... 15 Eat The Body.................................... 16 Weights......................................... 17 Ship of Fools, Velasquez' s Dwarves............... 19 Jeannine's First Time Out....................... 21 Doing It In The Kitchen.......................... 23 Too Late....................................... 24 When You First Watched My Lips Move.............. 25 Before You Go ................................... 26 FAITH To Be Norwegian................................. 29 In A Java Cave.................................. 31 Beast........................................... 32 Watching........................................ 33 A Modern Day David.............................. 34 Recuerdo........................................ 36 Faith........................................... 37 Of Myra, A Small Permission...................... 38 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Letters From The Evaporated City................ 3 9 Found In The Clearing........................... 41 The Unobserved................................. 42 Leaving U s ..................................... 44 Tree Of Prolonged Healing....................... 45 To Shoulder Hunger.............................. 49 GLYPHS OF BONE Angels Of Self-Abandon.......................... 51 Wings.......................................... 52 Somos Guerreros................................ 53 Like Cloth..................................... 54 The Witch Above La Joya......................... 55 Hi jo De Puta.................................... 56 Anastasia...................................... 57 Anyone You Know................................. 58 The Cover Within................................ 59 Filling Hollow Space............................ 61 The Intention Of Memory.........................63 THE IMPORTANT THINGS Teacup Of My Mother's Self...................... 65 Healing........................................ 66 Was I Ancient With Waiting?..................... 68 Directions for a Woman Wanted...................72 Sleepwalker.................................... 73 The Hallelujah Band............................. 74 Lifted Over.................................... 76 At Last, Come................................... 77 Fully Eaten.................................... 78 Between U s ..................................... 79 The Territory Of Dreams......................... 80 Distance....................................... 84 The Important Things............................ 85 Leaves......................................... 87 v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE INSIDE BOX Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PENANCE Inedible stone in my shoe. Small white gravel, poured along the bottoms of two penny loafers before school. Down the hall, my short feet hobble. Save me from the sins of my six years. Jesus lies upon the cross. I offer him a cup of water. My feet will never bleed. Each night I replace stones with new ones. Pray for comfort from the Father. No one knows what hides inside me. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 3 WHAT MAKES ME INVISIBLE I sit on the hard chair at the Mayflower Coffee Shop, my feet dangling, waiting, my head almost level with the table top, mother elegantly smoking, inhale and releasing her Pall Malls. I sip hot cocoa, bubbles of whipped cream on my spoon, dripping and wipe my chin, my dress tied in the back with

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