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Schuck, Yolanda

Astarte 
Volume 1 Article 23 
2024 
[untitled] 
Yolanda Schuck 
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 Part of the Creative Writing Commons, and the English Language and Literature Commons 
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Schuck, Yolanda (2024) "[untitled]," Astarte: Vol. 1, Article 23. 
Available at: https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/astarte/vol1/iss1991/23 
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provided as a free open access item. All inquiries regarding this item or the UAB Digital Commons should be 
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12 Jlstarte 
Untitled ,Yo!andaScfiuck, 
1
Schuck: [untitled]
Published by UAB Digital Commons, 2024


English

[untitled]

Hulsey,

Astarte 
Volume 1 Article 25 
2024 
lines scribbled on an envelope 
Hulsey 
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 Part of the Creative Writing Commons, and the English Language and Literature Commons 
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Hulsey (2024) "lines scribbled on an envelope," Astarte: Vol. 1, Article 25. 
Available at: https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/astarte/vol1/iss1991/25 
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provided as a free open access item. All inquiries regarding this item or the UAB Digital Commons should be 
directed to the UAB Libraries Office of Scholarly Communication. 
lines scribbled on an envelope 
he loves me, not you 
whispers of 
others 
coming in waves to 
haunt me 
I hold 
my head high 
in the night 
he whispers 
other things to me 
things 
I can believe 
things l want to believe 
things J 
need to hear 
issuing effortlessly 
from his lips 
like the rain of kisses 
on my neck 
like the rain of 
tears 
down my face 
echoes 
of laughter 
of people l don't care about 
only you 
only you 
and what you give me 
is enough. 
J-fu[sey
.7lstarte 13 
1
Hulsey: lines scribbled on an envelope
Published by UAB Digital Commons, 2024


lines scribbled on an envelope

Mohney, Christopher

Astarte 
Volume 1 Article 33 
2024 
Sleeping in St. Louis Cemetary No. 1 
Christopher Mohney 
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 Part of the Creative Writing Commons, and the English Language and Literature Commons 
Recommended Citation 
Mohney, Christopher (2024) "Sleeping in St. Louis Cemetary No. 1," Astarte: Vol. 1, Article 33. 
Available at: https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/astarte/vol1/iss1991/33 
This content has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of the UAB Digital Commons, and is 
provided as a free open access item. All inquiries regarding this item or the UAB Digital Commons should be 
directed to the UAB Libraries Office of Scholarly Communication. 
Sleeping in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 
I am very tired and very drunk 
and it is very dark. 
The arclight glow of downtown ew Orleans 
gives the sky a faint orange radiance 
lining the undersides of black summer night-clouds. 
I walk alongside the white plaster wall 
until I come to a broken gate, clumsily repaired 
with plywood. In the faint streetlight, 
I can see the rows of oven vaults hulking in the shadows. 
I push the wood aside and stumble into the cemetery 
thinking how dangerous this is, how foolish, 
and how exciting. I will spend the night here 
I say to myself, but the words do not seem my own, 
as if they rose from one of the dusty sepulchers 
that hold whole families taken by malaria, by cholera. 
Duels were popular. Amazing how many people 
fell to duels. I bounce off the vault walls, 
the aisles are very narrow. 
It feels like a library, 
a library of peeling plaster and crumbling stone, 
and the spines of these books are all scribed with Latin 
or French, or some pigdin I have no hope of comprehending. 
I will spend the night here, whispers the ghost in me. 
I draw a deep breath and smell 
damp earth, and dust, and green things. 
I raise my head to peer over a vault, and spy 
a flickering light close by. 
I duck. A caretaker? Or maybe an occult ritual. 
Either way I will find out, because if it's a caretaker 
I want him to get me the hell out of here. 
I travel through switchbacks and marble alleyways, 
apologizing to anyone's house I accidentally profane. 
I find the light, and there is no one there. 
Just a slightly ornate tomb with a guttering oil lamp 
one flame amongst many extinguished. 
Red-chalk crosses and marks over the inscription, 
but I make out the words "Famille Vve. Paris 
nee Laveau. Marie Philome Glapion." I puzzle through 
the dialect and archaic arrangement of names, 
and chuckle when I realize that this is Marie Laveau, 
famed New Orleans voodoo queen and tourist trap mascot. 
22 Ylstarte 
1
Mohney: Sleeping in St. Louis Cemetary No. 1
Published by UAB Digital Commons, 2024
I wonder, if she rose up now, 
would she rush to the Bourbon Street shop that bears her name 
To stock up on High John the Conqueror oil? Or gris-gris? 
I laugh, and laugh , and lean against her epitaph 
and as I slide down the vault, I slide into sleep 
though not so deep a one as Mme. Laveau's. 
My slumber is dreamless and peaceful, 
but I am awakened shortly after dawn by an obnoxious, 
territorial pigeon. After shaking off the dew, 
I thank Mme. Laveau for her hospitality, 
and trudge out of the cemetery, marvelling in a hungover way 
at the clear memory of my cemetery night. 
There is grave dirt on my shoes, 
and red chalk on my back. 
Cliristopfier Moliney 
Jlstarte 23 
2
Astarte, Vol. 1 [2024], Art. 33
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/astarte/vol1/iss1991/33


Sleeping in St. Louis Cemetary No. 1

Staff, Astarte

Astarte 
Volume 1 Article 37 
2024 
Astarte 1 (End Matter) 
Astarte Staff 
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 Part of the Creative Writing Commons, and the English Language and Literature Commons 
Recommended Citation 
Staff, Astarte (2024) "Astarte 1 (End Matter)," Astarte: Vol. 1, Article 37. 
Available at: https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/astarte/vol1/iss1991/37 
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'To su6mit work§ for future issues o J .9Lstarte, 
sent£ it witfi a se{f-adaressecl stampea envefope: 
c/ o UAB Department of English 
University Station 
Birmingham, AL 35294 
Or, arop it 6y room 207-Jl of tfie J-{umanities 'BuiMing, 
focatea in tfie 900 6(ock,of 13tfi Street Soutfi. 
1
Staff: Astarte 1 (End Matter)
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Astarte 1 (End Matter)

Astarte 2 (Complete Issue)

Barton, Linda

Astarte 
Volume 2 Article 12 
1992 
Mama … Show Me The Way 
Linda Barton 
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 Part of the Creative Writing Commons, and the English Language and Literature Commons 
Recommended Citation 
Barton, Linda (1992) "Mama … Show Me The Way," Astarte: Vol. 2, Article 12. 
Available at: https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/astarte/vol2/iss1992/12 
This content has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of the UAB Digital Commons, and is 
provided as a free open access item. All inquiries regarding this item or the UAB Digital Commons should be 
directed to the UAB Libraries Office of Scholarly Communication. 
Mama ... Show Me The Way Linda 'Barton 
.Jlftarte 9 
1
Barton: Mama … Show Me The Way
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Mama … Show Me The Way

Case, Carol

Astarte 
Volume 3 Article 10 
1993 
Black-Eyed Susan 
Carol Case 
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 Part of the Creative Writing Commons, and the English Language and Literature Commons 
Recommended Citation 
Case, Carol (1993) "Black-Eyed Susan," Astarte: Vol. 3, Article 10. 
Available at: https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/astarte/vol3/iss1993/10 
This content has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of the UAB Digital Commons, and is 
provided as a free open access item. All inquiries regarding this item or the UAB Digital Commons should be 
directed to the UAB Libraries Office of Scholarly Communication. 
Black-Eyed Susan 
She should have gotten the hint 
when instead of a ring he sent bachelor buttons. 
There were flowers after every fight, 
and each romantic evening, 
so she came to associate flowers with kisses and curses. 
Every infidelity was wrapped in green tissue paper, 
and delivered to her door, 
so it only seemed appropriate 
that women and flowers should bear the same names. 
For every rose she wondered 
if there were another Rose somewhere. 
Every Lily or Iris that she met, 
was an automatic rival. 
When Heather showed up in her garden 
with violent violet eyes, 
she wasn't surprised 
to find her skirt brushed with dandelions 
that the breeze had not dispersed. 
She sent the forget-me-nots FfD 
and charged them to his own account, 
along with all the gardening tools she bought. 
Caro[ Case 
.91starte 7 
1
Case: Black-Eyed Susan
Published by UAB Digital Commons, 1993


Black-Eyed Susan

Hampton, Arlene

Astarte 
Volume 3 Article 21 
1993 
Priorities 
Arlene Hampton 
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 Part of the Creative Writing Commons, and the English Language and Literature Commons 
Recommended Citation 
Hampton, Arlene (1993) "Priorities," Astarte: Vol. 3, Article 21. 
Available at: https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/astarte/vol3/iss1993/21 
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provided as a free open access item. All inquiries regarding this item or the UAB Digital Commons should be 
directed to the UAB Libraries Office of Scholarly Communication. 
Priorities 
He rattled the gate-latch, all 
beery and undone, demanding 
that I abandon the roses, grant 
him admittance, amuse him. 
Perceiving it easier to lie 
down than to wrangle, I slipped 
the latch, we shammed at tipcat 
down the path to the shuttered 
summerhouse, where we rode 
iambic tremors until he slept; 
and I slept, dreaming of roses: 
ten foot hedges of yellow roses, solitary 
stems of lavender roses, tiny pink tea 
roses and wild ones that thrive in 
burnt-over wood lots. 
Light flirts through the shutters 
wheedling me awake and back into 
the garden, while my boozy 
poem sleeps; while there is still 
light. 
J'l.r[ene J-fampton 
51starte 20 
1
Hampton: Priorities
Published by UAB Digital Commons, 1993


Priorities

Wood, Carla DeLane

Astarte 
Volume 3 Article 28 
1993 
Baby Boomer Fantasy 
Carla DeLane Wood 
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 Part of the Creative Writing Commons, and the English Language and Literature Commons 
Recommended Citation 
Wood, Carla DeLane (1993) "Baby Boomer Fantasy," Astarte: Vol. 3, Article 28. 
Available at: https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/astarte/vol3/iss1993/28 
This content has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of the UAB Digital Commons, and is 
provided as a free open access item. All inquiries regarding this item or the UAB Digital Commons should be 
directed to the UAB Libraries Office of Scholarly Communication. 
24 .%tarte 
Baby Boomer Fantasy 
Sometimes I dream that 
you are driving me to high school 
in that old '54 cherry-bomb Ford 
and you pull off the road 
into an alley 
thick with new-bloomed Spring 
and me 
lying in your backseat 
like Liz Taylar on her barge 
surrounded by redbud and dogwood 
and a cherry-bomb Spring 
You make love to me 
and you are the First 
First 
and I cross that threshold with you 
and you come into me 
like Life/ 
like Thunder/ 
like Mystery 
and 
lift your head and our eyes meet 
laughing 
and I see the silver of your hair 
and the lines that crease your eyes 
and map your laughter 
where all my youth and hopes 
are resurrected 
and 
I see my body 
ravaged by years and 3 grown babies 
and we Laugh 
and we Laugh 
and we Love 
in a world gone mad with Spring 
where fig leaves have no function 
and age is a rumor 
spread by jealous tongues. 
Carfa 'lJeLane 'Wooa 
1
Wood: Baby Boomer Fantasy
Published by UAB Digital Commons, 1993


Baby Boomer Fantasy

Sikes, Danaher

Astarte 
Volume 4 Article 9 
1994 
Precarious Position 
Danaher Sikes 
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 Part of the Creative Writing Commons, and the English Language and Literature Commons 
Recommended Citation 
Sikes, Danaher (1994) "Precarious Position," Astarte: Vol. 4, Article 9. 
Available at: https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/astarte/vol4/iss1994/9 
This content has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of the UAB Digital Commons, and is 
provided as a free open access item. All inquiries regarding this item or the UAB Digital Commons should be 
directed to the UAB Libraries Office of Scholarly Communication. 
Danaher Sikes 
Precarious Position 
8 :Jlstarte 
1
Sikes: Precarious Position
Published by UAB Digital Commons, 1994


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