Millicent Borges Accardi

And Continued To

It was there for 18 years
And longer if you count before
I was born, the ten years before that
Where I knew my place and marked
The spot, crawling out the window to
Escape or be kidnapped, the white
Paint footprints left behind in the
Driveway. Where there was a perch
For the doctor’s cat who had been
There before I was, and made herself
At home on a bird’s eye maple stoop
Below glassed-in bookcases next to the tile fireplace
With its scenes from the children’s book
about Hans Brinker.

Millicent Borges Accardi, a Portuguese-American writer living in California, is the author of two poetry books, most recently Only More So (Salmon Poetry Ireland). Her awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Fulbright, CantoMundo, California Arts Council, The Corporation of Yaddo, Fundação Luso-Americana, Foundation of Contemporary Art (NYC), and The Barbara Deming Foundation, "Money for Women."  New work in New American Writing, Laurel Review and Another Chicago Magazine.