SHARON CUMBERLAND
will read poems at
THE SEATTLE BOOKFEST
this Saturday, October 24th, 2009
2:00-3:45PM

She will be reading with poets Lynn Coffin, Peter Ludwin, and Chris Jarmick
Here’s the link to Bookfest, taking place in Columbia City:
http://www.seattlebookfest.com

Check out the great events for writers and readers of all kinds!

Sample Poem:

I DREAMED OF MY MOTHER’S CLOTHES

I dreamed of my mother’s clothes,
opened an antique wardrobe, all her
clothes were there, that I remember,
from crinolines to hose

with elegant seams
up the back; her housecoat,
her scarves that  float
in perfume; I seem

to stand before a bank
of fabric memory
my mother with me,
casual or swank

in gown, blouse, and slack
as I rummage through
saying “Oh! I remember you,
and you!”—the fecund rack

giving me my mother
back again, and me a child
in her warm closet, clothes piled
around me like other

arms, the camphor scent of caring.
I find a green remnant
of the tweed coat she sent
me away to college in, faring

alone, long before  she left herself,
an old lady in tidy gym
clothes, eyes rheumy, brain dim,
leaving spangled shawls on a back shelf.

In the dream I  clutch the fiber  
body of her, the outermost skin—   
embrace it all, remember when  
the clothes, and I, were filled by her.