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Bridget Van Loon was born and raised in Manhattan Beach, California  by
her father, an agnostic sheriff, and her second generation
Irish-Catholic mother. 

She is the author of chapbooks Spying (1999) and Seven (2003).  Both 
can be found at the Beyond Baroque bookstore in Venice, where she was 
propelled to broaden her exploration of poetry.  Nearly complete, her 
third chapbook is due out January 2008.
 
Austin, Texas is where she lives with her partner and two dogs, one of 
which is an avid skipper.

 
 




 
 




 
Stewing






 









 














He was not habituated with a grip that wide.

No use trying to steer him.

Bypassing masked men.

And on the other side of town a flapper left a nightclub

unable to bear witness to her life

to go to a bed and ferment in her sleep

furious when awoken by laughter.

She sleepwalked to a sheriffs bureau

where a firearm seemed tempting

and thought for a second

would he even budge

to see a victim

with the same blood.

Making sure, she phoned him

and after hearing no catastrophic hello,

she rethought herself.

Only to find in the wake of another morning,

that he did die

on an overpass,

dressed as what she wondered.

He needed his days.

Said her love

gave away his nights.
 
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
 

comparing

if they speak to me deliberately
slowly,
and with care 

claiming me 

if they profess their love
in a mausoleum
eight weeks before they die 

if they fly me around the block
on wings
that are about to break 

if they send me away
with a sweet smile
so they can melt into wood
all alone 

if they occupy my thoughts
taking over my dreams 

then I can walk away
bite my lip
and spend the remainder of my days
searching for them behind the air 

intangible as it seems

all copyrights belong to Bridget Van Loon