Lilly Wasserman's "Scarecrow" from Kathleen Flenniken's, The Far Field

Lilly Wasserman, poet extraordinaire

Each week, or sometimes every few days, Washington State Poet Laureate, Kathleen Flenniken, highlights the work of a talented Washington State poet. From every corner of the state, from every age group, gender, and racial background, Flenniken finds a poet worthy of a wider audience. She's been doing this for more than a year and the talent still keeps coming. This week is no exception.

Poet Lilly Wasserman is currently studying creative writing at Western Washington University. This poem, "Scarecrow," is part of a larger work of persona poems in which Wasserman reconsiders Dorothy and the Land of Oz. With images as powerful as "miscalculated blooms" and "porcupine fractures" it's hard not to admire this burgeoning poet. You heard it here first: I believe Lilly Wasserman is just getting started. May this be the beginning of a beautiful love affair with poetry.

Please enjoy!

Scarecrow

He had eyes like sewn seeds
anxious, I thought they might
come unstrung and sprout again
raining from white casks
over clawed hands
beetle-backed and tight
through slits to the moss below.

Flax shoots of hay
pierced his overcoat at each elbow
porcupine fractures of desert bone
wind-whipped and waterless,
forever pointing south.

He was a dizzying character
a flailing hand-packed half-man
tossing his stuffing
in miscalculated blooms
and chuckling curses
as they blew away.

(to continue reading "Scarecrow" please visit The Far Field)