Speaker of English as a Second Language
Mara Adamitz Scrupe
we might look at the teeth the length of leg
or we might consider the carapace/ the slough
or the soil that contains it
or we might ponder its crust/ its components:
Mycobacterium vaccae/ bacterium specifically
we might inhale its microbes
plunge our fingertips in
pack it under our nails
cause our cytokine levels to rise
we might admit we’re no geniuses except
for our kindnesses/ forgiveness/ disappointments admeasured
unfolded regrets/ stains that bind mine profoundly
to yours: saltwater rivulets streaming/ antipodean
south to north veins
to arteries/ backwards again or in hope trustingly
near - missed or gone unnoticed
we might repeat is it possible is it possible
a phrase employed by the speaker of English as a second
language meaning maybe or will you please
Mara Adamitz Scrupe is a poet and visual artist. She has created significant bodies of work in poetry, artists’ books, sculpture, installation, and social practice. Her awards include the National Endowment for the Arts/CEC ArtsLink fellowship, the District of Columbia (Washington, DC) Individual Fellowship, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship. She is a fellow of the MacDowell Colony and of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre (Ireland), and has been awarded residencies by the Montalvo Arts Center, the Irish Museum of Modern Art Residency Programme (Dublin), and USF Verftet-AiR/Bergen (Norway).
In 2015 Adamitz Scrupe’s poem Arillus won commendation in the International Poetry Competition of the Poetry Society (London UK), and she has won or been shortlisted for the Eyewear Press Lorgnette Chapbook Series, Fool for Poetry Pamphlet Competition, Erbacce poetry Prize, Periplum Book Award, Bright Hill Press Book Prize, Sentinel Poetry Book Competition, Aesthetica Creative Writing Award, Canterbury Poetry Festival Prize, Ron Pretty Poetry Prize, and the University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor’s Poetry Award (Australia). She is the author of two collections, Sky Pilot (Finishing Line Press, 2012) and BEAST (NFSPS, 2015), and in late 2017, Eyewear Press (London UK) will publish her new chapbook collection entitled Magnalia. Mara Adamitz Scrupe is professor of Fine Arts at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia where she teaches visual art and creative writing.