Schrooms by Susan Tepper

Some people you can 

read between the lines

get the real fix—

where their schrooms

darken out of 

a bunched pile—

Could be cells

or plain bad timing;

May have started

neutral as beige 

carpet rolled up 

so much it lost 

that soft shade—

got a grey wear mark

turned dingy—

a madness 

flourishing

with each new twist.

Susan Tepper is the author of nine published books of fiction and poetry. Her two most recent titles are CONFESS (poetry from Cervena Barva Press, 2020) and a road novel WHAT DRIVES MEN (Wilderness House Press, 2019) that was shortlisted at American Book Fest. Other honors and awards include eighteen Pushcart Prize Nominations, a Pulitzer Nomination by Cervena Barva Press for the novel ‘What May Have Been’ (re-written and re-titled for adaptation as a stage play to open in NY next year), shortlisted in Zoetrope Contest for the Novel (2003), NPR’s Selected Shorts for ‘Deer’ published in American Letters & Commentary (ed. Anna Rabinowitz), Second Place Winner in StorySouth Million Writers Award, Best of 17 Years of Vestal Review and more. Tepper is a native New Yorker. www.susantepper.com