1 poem

by Su Ertekin-Taner

The Bolles School

that type of woman

My landlord was a woman
In my country, that never happens
She was a hard-headed, straight shooter
Type of woman
I paid the bills the day before they were due
Because I was that
Type of woman
And partially because I was scared of
Her type of woman
She took them from my own hands with her course ones
Burnt a couple of times by the kitchen stove
In her apartment kitchen
Or was it her oven?
Her legs spoke as she walked with cracks coming from her
Knees and ankles
That I could hear as she left my apartment door
And walked to the sometimes-broken elevator
Her body fully covered with wool clothing even in the summer
Because it cost less
She whistled as she walked down the corridor a tune which she had put together
From notes on the piano that her parents could not afford for her to play
She was that type of woman
I heard her sidle down to the room downstairs of mine at night
I heard her radio playing every night while she cleaned the dishes
Or made her husband baklava
Or mopped the floor
The radio continued through shouts
and screams
and thuds
that I heard most Monday evenings
Echoing in my room
after her husband’s fifth beer glass

I guess he was that type of man