New Day Blues
Martha Strom
i am a sinner like any other
one difference however
may be that i know not to expect
the divine to appear to me
in any guise except this moment
the mighty notices my quivering
fingers that wear no rings
i don’t count on much
but fear not said the hale one
so many things i can’t explain
all i care about
is that the little ones are safe
i can say only this
someday these blues
will be my answers
and i will be given
more and bluer blues
as i grow older
so if you have the blues
like i do this nordic morning
you have acquired an orange kitten
who someday will scratch and bite
and scream for your right to be blue
Martha Strom received a Phi Beta Kappa key when she graduated with Distinction in English from Boston University. Soon afterwards, she earned a M.A. and a Ph.D. in English Literature from Princeton. (That was during the first decade of women at Princeton.) Later, she taught English and Writing at Princeton, Brandeis, and Harvard, before moving to New York where she taught Adults with Psychiatric Disabilities; and ESL at Pace University. Now, she writes and lives in Brooklyn, New York.