Elaine P. Morgan
2011 Virginia Senior Poet Laureate

Elaine P. Morgan, 69, Warrenton, Virginia, originally from New York, is a retired paralegal and State and Federal Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator. Her pets include at least three old cats with which she lives, and two outdoor cats she feeds, as well as wild birds. She is working on a memoir entitled FREE TO FLY, dedicated to the disabled and chronically ill who can thrive and cope in illness and disability through the spirit of handicappd wild birds. She won the Virginia SPL award in 2005, 2007 and 2008. Her sign of the zodiac is Gemini.

MINDFUL

He cuts glass, mirrors, sells junk
collects odds and ends, bric-a-brac,
old doors, appliances; stored outside,
inside of door-less sheds, weathered
buildings, on acres of prime land.

He lives in a run-down trailer he calls
"his castle," not selling much,
not caring much.

Once in a while he mutters something
about clearing the land, selling everything,
building a proper home, but he's been
saying that for years.

I stand and wait for glass outside a shed,
catching my reflection in a mirror shard,
wondering what I've stored in my own
head.