Bohemian Seeks Work

After Miranda Seymour, “Introduction to Jean Rhys,
After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie, 2020

the rendering of passion offered consequences
the beautiful economy genius emboldened wandering
the capitals of Europe Jean Rhys capacious exile
bohemian seeks work in astonishment
often invisible late as always the page
offers the wellspring of art here still depends
on occasional handouts of endearment
resemblance ends revelation a ghost
in the portrait this slender volume

Looking Glass She

After Jean Rhys, After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie, 1931
Chapter 1: The Hotel on the Quay

parted from Mr. Mackenzie Julia lowdown
thin in conjectures the one-eyed gloom
after she had been drinking without a looking glass
she told herself she felt safe found pleasure
like the sound of the sea on Tuesday mornings
locked in her room yours faithfully she was a dreamer
Mr. Mackenzie vanished her

A Scene Why

After Jean Rhys, After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie, 1931
Chapter 2: Mr. Mackenzie

enclosed please find Mr. Mackenzie still
in Paris opposite the window opposite
benevolence Monsieur alone
with a carafe of wine and a tidy
mind stopped intimate questions
that any female existed a final certain
sum Mr. Mackenzie’s soul objected to
giving she’s come to make a scene
why her glove his cheek she gathered
walked out he began to eat again

Lisa Beech Hartz directs Seven Cities Writers Project which brings writing workshops to underserved communities. She currently guides poetry workshops for men and women in a city jail. Found poems are among her writers’ favorite ways to create new work. Her ekphrastic collection, The Goldfish Window (Grayson Books, 2018) was honored by Mark Doty with the Robert Creeley Memorial Award. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Ploughshares, Beloit Poetry Review, The Massachusetts Reviews, Pleaides, and elsewhere.