Walking to the House of the Foreign Woman Who Never Has to Visit Her Homeland

I have not come

to ask you questions,

only to look,

to stand in the road

that cradles your house.

I see it has two rooms

only, that your husband's

boots are outside the door,

and that a small tricycle

is toppled onto its side

just below the window.

The breeze is almost silent.

You must he sleeping

with your Greek husband

who mixes limestone

and cement to build

walls and foundations.

You must have cooked for him,

must have taken his plate

and washed the dishes

by hand before joining him to sleep.

The house is quiet.

And my footsteps are like

stones on the cobblestone path,

as I walk slowly

so as not to wake you

so as not to hear how to be

the Greek wife you've become.

DONNA J. GELAGOTIS LEE'S poetry has appeared in numerous literary and scholarly journals, including Atlantis: A Women's Studies Journal, CALYX: A Journal of Art and Literature by Women, Feminist Studies, Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, The Massachusetts Review, The Seattle Review, and Women's Studies Quarterly. Donna's manuscript Deciding Not to Wear Glasses was a finalist for the 2005 May Swenson Poetry Award. Her manuscript On the Altar of Greece was a finalist for the 2005 Richard Snyder Memorial Poetry Prize, the 2004 Gival Press Poetry Award, and the 2004 Winnow Press First Book Award in Poetry. Currently a freelance editor in New Jersey, Donna lived in Greece for many years.

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