This entry is part of Getaway Reads, a weekly e-mail series curated by Stephanie Cawley that features the writing of the Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway faculty.
 
 

The Photographer’s Divorce

by BJ Ward

She walks out the door for the final time
and her absence is already moving in, clutching
its baggage, looking for whiskey in his cupboard,
negatives in his camera.
Her absence sets the table for one
where it and the man will dine
alone together for many nights.
As they eat each night
in the stark light of a single
candle (how could flame be so cold?),
the absence’s shadow flattens out
across the walls he and she once painted together,
leaves a film that thickens his house,
aggregately closing the space he lives in
like a constricting automatic
camera lens
attempting to photograph an object
or occurrence
to which he’s too close to see clearly.

It’s focusing and focusing
not able to get it—
it focuses so hard
it pulls the garden into the house,
and then the street—
after that, a mountain, a few distant clouds—
soon the whole world
is something he can’t see
as it crowds his house.
In fact, everything is now in his house
except her.
 
 

Babyproofing

by BJ Ward

A baby sharpens the eye.
You used to try to make the world suffer
but now, Mr. Harley-Davidson,
glance around your nursery
and try to make the world safer.
Be rid of the poker
and shovel your own father
left to you—you could never
build a fire anyway.
The whisky moves higher
and the dogs get shot
for distemper. Bang
down the nails that have extruded
for as long as you’ve lived
here. How many nights
you’ve whetted
edges on knives
you must now move from edges.
Look at that baby
with your jaw, your hands—
you’ll have to squeeze hard
to open a door from here
on in.
           You’re almost frantic now,
aren’t you Daddy?
                              Here’s all
you can do: pick up everyday
objects, then examine them.
Everything might hurt.
 
 
© BJ Ward. “The Photographer’s Divorce” was originally published in Inside Jersey. “Babyproofing” was originally published in U.S. 1 Worksheets, in 2008.

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BJ Ward is the author of Jackleg Opera: Collected Poems 1990-2012, forthcoming in September, 2013, as part of the IO Poetry Series (North Atlantic Books). His other books are Gravedigger’s Birthday, 17 Love Poems with No Despair, and Landing in New Jersey with Soft Hands. His poems have been featured on Poetry Daily, NPR’s “The Writer’s Almanac,” and New Jersey Network’s “State of the Arts,” as well as in publications such as Poetry, TriQuarterly, and Painted Bride Quarterly. He is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and two Distinguished Artist Fellowships from the NJ State Council on the Arts. He co-directs the Creative Writing degree program at Warren County Community College. To read more of Ward’s work visit the Poetry Foundation or Painted Bride Quarterly.

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Want to study with BJ Ward? At the 2013 Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway, BJ will be leading two exciting, new workshops: the Algonquin-Style Poetry Workshop and one day of the Creative Writing Sampler. He will also be leading a section of Advanced Poetry and available for tutorials. Click here to find out more.

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Advance your craft and energize your writing at the Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway. Enjoy challenging and supportive sessions, insightful feedback, and an encouraging community. Learn more.