Philly Poetry Chapbook Review is pleased to present four original poems by Christa Fairbrother as our third of six biweekly featured poets of the Spring 2025 issue.
Poems
Pain is an Onion
After Still Life with a Plate of Onions, Vincent van Gogh
My little sweet pea, stay away from an allium, don’t ever let it stunt your growth. When picked, it’s puffy-headed, paper-skinned, long-lasting when stored in a cool, dry place. Sliced, it weeps milky; malodorous maladies, layers of tears. Raw onions bite. Saute them savory. Salty with flavors of whine, madder red wine, dye of angry skin, caramelize the pan, the pain. The I is the difference, an experience wholly yours.
what is a still life
but bodies plated, served for
another’s pleasure
The True Purpose of Vision Checks
The trail was a tunnel littered with leaves,
nature mimicking linoleum halls.
My son ran ahead less in Fall, the damp thickened
our bond, glue-sticked him to me like the wreath
of green handprints on the fridge.
The world opened when we reached
the pond. Water and sky blurred, boundless grey
broken up by the bright music of his feet
bursting forth as he ran down the dock.
The shore was deep, muddy, but it was my waterline
that moistened. I claimed it was the glare
like the time I walked out into
the searing daylight after the dilated
dark of the doctor’s office.
The doctor had asked me to line up small colored disks.
It was meant to test if I was going color-
blind, but really it was measuring joy.
What would the world be without rainbows?
Nursing Moms Group
New mamas, we meerkat
mob for protection
from this desert of life,
stand guard and police
each other in drab third-floor
conference rooms partitioned
with blue Kindergarten mats.
When you marry young,
is it fair babies take years
to make, to borrow, to buy?
What is women’s anger
but the hot soil that buries
a deeper emotion, the bamboo
the neighbors fear will run
under their fence, fast as a zombie fire.
One that’s smoldered in the peat
for eons. One dig, one bless
your heart, and it flares.
Let there be light…
the great creation story begins—
A declaration when I flip my kitchen switch,
night wishes when camping.
If I owned the world’s longest extension cord
I could back pack all my lamps
into the forest, hang them from the trees
to cascade down…bright like a rain of jellyfish…
or a sunset song to tempt the fireflies.
A prayer at the doctor’s office
for white spaces instead of black masses.
A scream when our bodies collide,
hold me tight, tighter.
About “Nursing Moms Group”
Nursing Moms Group is based on my own experience in a nursing moms group. Being a new mom is a vulnerable time in your life, and it’s natural to seek out support. However, the experience became middle school all over again when some of the group ganged up on and were unkind to another mom in the group. Since women aren’t allowed the power of our anger, we take it out on each other, and that’s what this poem is hinting at.
Author Bio
Christa Fairbrother, MA, has had poetry in Arc, Epiphany, Pleiades, and Salamander, among others. Currently, she’s Gulfport, Florida’s poet laureate, and she’s been a finalist for the Leslie McGrath Poetry Prize, The Prose Poem Competition, The Pangea Prize, and was a Pushcart Prize nominee. Connect with her: www.christafairbrotherwrites.com.
Contents
Book Excerpt: The Prize of Québec by Jennifer Nelson
“I tend to lean into the transconstitutory powers of ekphrasis. … Only in poetry can one go to the moon in a way that critiques the quest for the moon.” Read a poem from Jennifer Nelson’s new collection from Fence Books, On the Way to the Paintings of Forest Robberies.
Chapbook Poem: This Is How They Teach Us How to Want It . . . by Shanta Lee
“This poem explores the levels of our participation in handing ourselves over, often to the people, places, or things that deserve no such delight.” Read a #poem from Shanta Lee’s new book from Harbor Editions, This Is How They Teach Us How to Want It . . . The Slaughter.
Three Poems by Jonathan Fletcher
“Instead of having to choose between religion or the LGBTQ community (which I know many member of the latter feel they have to do), I think it is possible (and maybe even biblical) to integrate both into one’s life.” Read three original poems from Jonathan Fletcher, along with words from the author.
What Happened? On You are Leaving the American Sector by Rebecca Foust
“Rebecca Foust’s new chapbook of poems has a strange prescience. … Foust isn’t alone in making the obvious connection between Trump’s first term and Orwell’s dystopia.” Read the full chapbook review by new contributor Rick Mullin.
‘What if we started creating together? What if we looked at who we are from the side and saw a much more complete and honest perspective?” Read four poems by poet Sarah E N Kohrs, along with words from the poet.
Book Excerpt: Challenger by Colleen S. Harris
“If we look beyond the voyeuristic tendency to focus on the tragedy, what might we see? This poem was a chance for me to zoom in on the calm before the storm.” New poem from Colleen S. Harris’s new book from Main Street Rag, The Light Becomes Us, along with words from the poet..
Chapbook Poem: What I Did This Summer by Elinor Serumgard
“I love New Year’s and the promise of a new start, but I like to remind myself that you can start fresh at any point throughout the year.” New poem from Elinor Serumgard’s chapbook from Bottlecap Press, Analogous Annum, along with words from the poet.
Four Poems by Christa Fairbrother
“Since women aren’t allowed the power of our anger, we take it out on each other, and that’s what this poem is hinting at.” Read four poems by Christa Fairbrother, along with words from the poet.