Charmed

by Ellen Roberts Young


A flaunted bracelet:
Eiffel tower, tower of Pisa.
Trajan’s column, bridge of sighs.

“I’ve been there, and there and
there,” I could have said, smug
in my poodle skirt and matching
sweaters, chain holding the cardigan.

I could not. I’d have snagged
the sweater, torn the poodle’s tail.

And they don’t make charms
for dunes or brown rivers,
a steep, wet cobblestone street,

the click of stiletto heels on
terrazzo, or the tiny lizard
in the Villa d’Este garden
hooked to my chain of memory.


* * * * *

"Charmed" is from Ellen Roberts Young's chapbook Transported (Finishing Line Press, 2021).

Ellen Roberts Young’s chapbook, Transported, describes her travels in Europe and Egypt when she was twelve and their after-effects. Her poems have been published in numerous print and online journals; she also has a new full-length collection, Lost in the Greenwood, about unicorn tapestries of five hundred years ago. She is an editor of Sin Fronteras/Writers Without Borders Journal and blogs at www.freethoughtandmetaphor.com. Her website is www.ellenrobertsyoung.com.