Elisabeth Crago
When I Forget
In a waking dream the moon scripts
shadows across the wall—the curve
of your brow, stoop of your shoulders—
and for a moment I forget you are gone.
My hand reaches across the empty bed,
stutters to find your side smooth and unruffled.
The shadow shifts and I feel your arms
around me, shiver in your empty embrace.
No hope of sleep now, I step into the night,
make my way to the lake's edge.
The black stillness envelopes me.
In the dark I can't see the lake weed
that strangles, chokes, steals oxygen.
Waves lap the shoreline, relentless.
Bio
Elisabeth Crago holds an MFA from Carlow University with a dual focus on poetry and creative non-fiction. A graduate of Lehman College, CUNY and the University of Michigan, she also has degrees in English and Nursing. In her primary career, Elisabeth administered a large breast health services program in eastern Pennsylvania. She then spent 12 years engaged in farming and aquaculture in New Zealand, where she also served on the board of a retreat center with an emphasis on women's spirituality. Returning to the United States in 2014, she settled in Pittsburgh and currently divides her time between the city and Chautauqua, NY. Elisabeth volunteers at City of Asylum, the Center for Women, and is also active in the Madwomen in the Attic, Carlow University's community writing program for women. Her work has been published in Voices in the Attic, Eye on the Telescope, and Dreamers' Writing.