Carolyn Adams

Shut-In

You want me
to leave the house.
I think it will work,
this ambition,
but I’m afraid to try.
You reassure me,
and I jump a few times,
put my ankles into it. It’s hard.
But I learn the right
velocity and how far
to bend my knees,
and finally I make it.
I’m on the ceiling,
touching fingertips
to the bumps and pits
of the sheetrock,
trying to not hit my head.
I travel the breadth of the room,
upside down like a spider,
looking over everything
that anchors me.
I hover the dining table,
explore the angles
of the hall bathroom.
I wonder what will happen
if I put myself
at the mercy of the atmosphere.
Will I ascend into clouds,
then into black velvet,
or will I hug the curve
of matter that made me?

Artist Statement: I try to craft illustrations that impart a sense of harmony, or that are infused with a certain visual tension.  But my favorites are the ones that manipulate their own identity, because my audience can connect with the images in their own deeply personal ways.

Carolyn Adams’ poetry and art have been published in the pages, and on the covers of Kestrel, Steam Ticket, Apercus Quarterly, Wend, and Defunkt, Beatnik Cowboy, Pangolin Review, and Titpton Poetry Journal, among others.  She has authored four chapbooks, with one being a collection of her collage art, entitled What Do You See?  Select pieces of her collage art have been featured in #YourArtMoment, a program of the Beaverton Arts Council in Beaverton, OR. She has been nominated for a Pushcart prize, as well as for Best of the Net, and was a finalist for 2013 Poet Laureate of the city of Houston, TX.  She is currently a staff editor for Mojave River Review.  Having relocated from Houston, she now lives in Beaverton, OR.