BY JAN HAAG

POETRY + ESSAYS + MUSIC + TRAVEL + FICTION + TEXTILE ART

INTRODUCTION + HAAG'S BIO

GLADIOLUS Latin, diminutive of gladius: sword (AND PEABERRIES) by the white house behind the First Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Church incandescent scarlet gladioli display high upon their spikes upright, fanciful rhyta of blood and on the stalks below a dozen faded blooms darkened, drooped and dried in a larger world they would be drops of blood * "Dad always raised the most beautiful glads," Aunt Weezie says a poor man who would have been one hundred had he lived to '82 he worked hard on a punch press (lost three fingers) as a gill-netter (later outlawed Mother says: "He was the quietest rower in the world." Father says: "He rowed backwards," and demonstrates) he worked on road crews raised the bridge at E B (spelt Ebey) Slough (his girls waved lanterns in the night Mother laughs: "There wasn't much traffic then.") grew peaches was a caretaker worked in a sawmill farmed and died before his wife who worked hard wrapped his hand gutted fish packed peaches took in ironing sewing reared three daughters one died ("We hurried Helen to the hospital in a motorboat. I think there was a flu epidemic the doctors paid no attention while she died.") of blood poisoning from a burst appendix she scrubbed, cleaned, canned, cooked roast beef, gravy, potatoes, peas, parsnip salad, strawberry shortcake, coffee which her husband laced with schnapps and refused to live any more in the float house alone on the river out Swan(z) Trail far from help, company, town and before she died found (in later years she worked for the hospital) she hated him his life had been bored by his thought his timidities "He never wanted to go any place." his poverty "I wouldn't do it again wouldn't work so hard be so poor marry have kids." "He raised the most beautiful glads, And the biggest, sweetest strawberries." ("Mother always had sweet peas.") and near death found she wished she had lived her own life followed her own way to her own iridaceous pot of gold * In a larger world the darkened, faded, peaberry-colored glad florets are drops of ancient blood PEABERRY: a coffee berry with one of its two seeds aborted