Poems appeared in the following literary magazines and anthologies:

Antietam Review (Spring, 1999)
WaterStone: Hamline Literary Review (Fall, 2000)
Bryant Literary Review (Vol. 2, 2000)
Harrington Lesbian Fiction Quarterly (Vol. 1, No. 3, 2000 and Vol. 3, No. 1, 2002)
Rockhurst Review (Spring, 2000)
Asphodel (Fall, 2002)
Proposing on the Brooklyn Bridge: Poems About Marriage (Grayson Books, 2003)
Slant, A Journal of Poetry (May, 2003)

Ghost Mother

She is
a wraith of a mother
a kind of mother
who slips in and out
faster than you can believe

Put your arms around her solid waist
she will be there for a second
smelling of sweat
and milk
then she will be gone

You try it
push your finger in her doughy arm
a mark will indent her skin
but she will not be there

The ghost mother
puts dinner on the table every night
but she does not stay and eat

We search for her everywhere
find only her books
and hidden scraps of paper
in the basement

My sisters and I lie in bed
holding hands
listening to her roam the house
at night
staying awake as long as we can
just in case

The trouble with a ghost mother
is that
while she isn't really quite there
she never quite goes away

You can't ever put her down
in a coffin
touch her face for the last time
shut the lid tight
and walk away

Kathy Anderson