Denise Provost, in her years as editor, reviewer, columnist, lawyer, and legislator has done a lot of writing, but especially enjoys poetry. She has been most recently studying with poet Susan Donnelly. She publishes occasionally, and looks forward to the publication of her two collections of poetry, “Curious Peach” (2010) and “Desire Lines” (2011). Denise is a member of Somerville’s Bagel Bards, and a long-time Somerville resident and state legislator.

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ArtBeat, 2011

I’m at a festival whose theme is “Red.”

(Ironic nation, where I’ve lived my years!)

My favorite color, which I hid, instead

of flaunting that bright symbol of dark fears.

Oh, color that once dared not speak its name,

lest it invoke Nikita Krushchev’s grin

or Fidel Castro’s leer – it’s all the same

Communist enemy, who’ll do us in.

But Perestroika’s children are we now –

our enemies are somewhere else. Instead

of dreading Ho Chi Minh, or Mao,

we’re authorized to celebrate in Red.

With shaking of his now-cadaverous jowls,

J. Edgar Hoover’s ghost looks down, and scowls.

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– Denise Provost

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