Mary L. Westcott began writing poetry 18 years ago and has been published in more than 50 literary journals, including the anthology Life in Me Like Grass on Fire, California Quarterly, and Potomac Review. She has published four chapbooks of poetry, and is working on a memoir in poetry. She holds a doctorate in social psychology from the University of Maryland, and an MA in Writing from Johns Hopkins University. She is retired from the National Institutes of Health and consults with a government contractor.
Summer 2012
Table of Contents - Vol. VIII, No. 2
Poetry Fiction Translations Reviews
Mary L. Westcott
Once the pain lifted
off my chest like a balloon
tilting toward heaven,
I vowed to release what
I could not use
like those Good Will items
piling up in my closet,
collecting the dust
of centuries of toxic
molecules, resting sadly
on the floor.
Could I also let go
of old anger and new
resentments collecting
in every corner of the house?
If only I could reduce
them to ashes, sweep
the lot off the balcony,
and remodel, maybe then
the weight would never return,
I’d have a new home.
© Mary L. Westcott
