"Seeing Through" by Melinda Coppola

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “Seeing Through” by Melinda Coppola.  Coppola has been writing in some form for more than four decades. In addition to previous appearances in Songs of Eretz http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/search?q=coppola, her work has been published in several magazines, books and periodicals including: Harpur Palate, Kaleidoscope, The Autism Perspective, Spirit First, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Welcome Home, and Celebrations.

Coppola is parent to a young woman on the Autism Spectrum. She enjoys teaching yoga, especially to individuals with disabilities, and making art from beach stones.

Seeing Through

Melinda Coppola

In the summer, after rain,

six years since our last.  Meeting

over mint iced tea this time her weary

eyes, careless gray hair fell, heavy,

onto drooped shoulders. The blouse

so inappropriate, I thought, seeing

right through it. A woman should

wear a nice bra at least, I thought, seeing

right through.

I hadn't wanted it, this awkward date.

She'd caught me off guard with her call.

These days I loathed forced smiles,

cheeriness that smothered the bare

truth of my life. Avoided Let's have coffee

at all costs. Off guard.

I tried not to look again at her

tasteless I thought again bra

that wisp of a blouse on one her age

seeing through it. Right through.

Focused now on her thin lips, feeling

downright mean

I made to-do lists in my head

as she went on and on trying

to reach a point, perhaps, or find words

...died....I heard her say

murdered in his apartment. They think

my heart skipped a beat

it was a random burglary he

shame crept crimson into my selfish

was to be twenty the next day.

Her eyes bore holes into my skin, words

peeled away my feeble layers. Seeing right through.

Poets Notes: This piece sprung up from the surprisingly rich ground of mild depression, fertilized with distraction and the human tendency to make assumptions about others without actually entering their story.

Editor's Note: This poem has many wonderful moments.  The clever use of punctuation in places creates nice layers of meaning; for example, right off the bat in line 2, the placement of the period makes the reader wonder what the word "last" may mean; so, I knew I was in for a treat right from the start.

The remainder of the poem does not disappoint.  The "right through" motif works well in the first two stanzas only to explode into ironic new meaning in the final stanza.  The moral lesson of the poem certainly deserves attention.