Words can lose order
even as we say them, slide sideways,
realigning themselves
as if with minds of their own,
which I guess are really ours,
according to principles;
perhaps Freud knew best.
Entire voices disappear.
Talented women whisper
in their own homes, married
and entertaining, until
they divorce.
Alita Pirkopf received a master’s degree in English literature from the University of Denver years after graduating from Middlebury College. Later she enrolled in a poetry seminar at the University of Denver taught by Bin Ramke. Poetry became a long-term focus and obsession. Pirkopf’s poem “Shale Bluffs” was nominated for the 2022 Pushcart Prize. Her poem “Roadkill” has been nominated for the Sundress Publications 2021 Best of the Net awards.