serene Miss Irene Serata
ballet teacher to little girls
in their unearned tutus
I hated ronds de jambe
felt like my leg was trying to stir cement
probably they were good for me
her dark eyes with clean black outlines
the smooth pale layer painted on her skin
a gauzy pastel scarf tying her curly hair off her face
years later I knew she’d worn stage make-up
the scarf now veiling her throat
how did she keep the liner from running
the day she stopped dressing for class
stopped doing barre with us
no longer at the ready to take her place with the corps
the day she asked one of us to demonstrate jumps
is a retired clinical psychologist, former German major and restaurant reviewer, and a two-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Her poems have received Special Merit and Honorable Mention recognition in the Muriel Craft Bailey Memorial contest from judges Marge Piercy (2016) and B. H. Fairchild (2013).
Karen’s first complete sentence was, “Look at the moon!” Her work in fairy tales and dream interpretation, and her obsession with Kafka and flirtation with Buber, have led her inevitably to prose poems. Her poetry has appeared in journals such as Comstock Poetry Review, B O D Y, CHEST, Rappahannock Poetry Review, Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, and Spillway. She is the author of a full-length collection, The Book of Knots and Their Untying (Kelsay Books, 2016), and three chapbooks from Kattywompus Press: Burrowing Song (2013), Eggs Satori (2014), and Kafka’s Cat (2019).
The poet shared her life with her late husband for 34 years, which were not enough. The Beautiful Leaves, a collection of poetry about his illness, death of cancer in 2018, and her grief, was released by Bamboo Dart Press in August 2023. She co-curates Fourth Sundays, a poetry series in Claremont, California.
