My Mother Arrives in America, 1969

expectant fraulein     at twenty-three     winged
liner     teased bouffant crown     high on motown
and techni-color screens     many-splendored
television     there’s ten channels     for good news
love american style     in her go-go     mini-dress
coffee and white picket     home of the instant-
aneous     lady slim cigarettes   smoking like pipe
dreams     with this ring     my military father
will button thee     up tight   and pour your free-
dom out    in bowlfuls of dogma     ‘n mac ‘n cheese
 

Tammy Robacker graduated from the Rainier Writing Workshop MFA program in Creative-Writing, Poetry at Pacific Lutheran University (2016). She won the 2015 Keystone Chapbook Prize for her manuscript, R. Her second poetry book, Villain Songs, is forthcoming with ELJ Publications in Fall 2016. Tammy published her first collection of poetry, The Vicissitudes, in 2009 (Pearle Publications) with a generous TAIP grant award. Tammy’s poetry has appeared in or is forthcoming in FRiGG, Tinderbox, Menacing Hedge, Chiron Review, VoiceCatcher, Duende, So to Speak, Crab Creek Review, WomenArts, and many more. Tammy lives in Oregon. Visit the poet: tammyrobacker.com