Secret life, revisited

I got an email last night from a guy who was at the Kim Stafford workshop. He runs Cave Moon Press, and is currently taking submissions for an anthology, the proceeds of which will benefit local food banks. He remembered my "Secret Life" poem from the workshop and asked if I'd want to include it in the anthology.

Uh, yes.

My only problem is the title, which, as he pointed out, is a bit redundant considering the text of the poem. So I asked my friends (via Facebook) to suggest some alternate titles, and brainstormed last night while I was working on another square of the anniversary quilt. I thought of "Undercover", "In the Interest of Full Disclosure" and "Domestic Disclosures". My friend Holly suggested "Preservation" and "Poem". But I really latched on to my friend Naomi's suggestion, "True Stories", which I spun off to come up with the title that I think I will stick with.


Four True Stories and Three Lies

My secret life is sealed
in a Mason jar with peaches and cinnamon
after a ten-minute bath in a boiling kettle.

My secret life is disintegrated
in my husband's front pocket
with a paycheck stub that went through the wash.

My secret life is congealed
in a pint carton of buttermilk
left in the spare fridge last summer.

My secret life is blooming
in the lilacs my daughter stops to smell
after I rush on by.

My secret life is folded
in the Mother's Day card
I was too busy to mail.

My secret life is eaten
in the strawberries my son steals off the vine
when he thinks I don't see.

My secret life is sewn
in the seams I stitch with black thread
because I ran out of navy blue.