Norma Ketzis Bernstock

Selling the House

I left it up to my husband
to sell our house
after we divorced.
He’d been living there alone
for five years.

I left it up to him
to rid the house of those oversized
speakers he loved-
that blocked the picture window,
blocked the birch tree view.

It was his job
to sand and paint the back door
that rotted from neglect,
to add a railing on steps
my mother and his
could never climb,
up to him
to prune the azaleas and hedges
kept neat and trimmed by me.

I left it up to him
to fix the patio bricks,
patch the roof,
clean the gutters,
paint the shutters,
empty the attic
and basement boxes—
thirty years of accumulation.

It was my job to clear my head and heart—
his to sell the goddamn house!

(Previously published Paterson Literary Review 2020)


Elegy for Galway
(1927-2014)

I first met you
in a poem about Fergus,
how he’d snuggle
between the two of you
in bed after love-making.

And your poem, Last Gods,
lovemaking again,
sensual, salacious, natural.

I remember your recitation
of Whitman’s Crossing Brooklyn Ferry
as a hundred poets traversed the bridge,
your eloquent voice stilled the poets,
pedestrians and cyclists alike.

And once when I asked
about your poem, Prayer,
you spoke about a faculty meeting,
how you challenged yourself
to repeat the word is three times in a row.
Amidst the unproductive chatter,
you produced that gem of a poem.

(Previously published Stillwater Review #14)


Blizzard

She died
then came the snow
so deep, wind so strong
she couldn’t be put in the ground.

More time with her husband.

Like a haunting, he thought,
just wanting to get it done.

Not that easy, she hummed
through bent and blowing trees.

She masked the sun,
whipped the earth white,
froze the land like her heart
all those years with their backs
turned on love.

(Previously published Voices From Here II
and chosen for Arts Society of Kingston
Interpretation Exhibit.)


About the Author

Norma Ketzis Bernstock lives in Milford, Pennsylvania where she is a member of the Wayne County and Delaware Valley Arts Alliances and the Writers’ Roundtable in New Jersey. Her poetry has appeared online at Your Daily Poem, has been been featured on WJFF Catskill Radio and has appeared in print and online journals and anthologies including Stillwater Review, Exit 13, US 1 Worksheets, Connecticut River Review, Paterson Literary Review and Rattle. Her first chapbook, Don’t Write a Poem About Me After I’m Dead, was published by Big Table Publishing and her newest one, Put a Comma After Love (Finishing Line Press), debuts February, 2025.

Her previous achievements include a Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Scholarship to the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, recognition by the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards and a Pushcart Prize nomination.

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