About Pam Ward
A UCLA graduate and recipient of a California Arts Council Fellow in Literature and New Letters Literary Award, she has had her poetry published in Scream When you Burn, Grand Passion, Calyx, Catch the Fire, and the newly released, Voices from Leimert Park. Pam operates her own graphic design studio, Ward Graphics as well as runs her own publishing house, Short Dress Press. Her first novel, Want Some, Get Some, comes out on Kensington Books, February 2007. Pam has edited five anthologies including, Picasso’s Mistress, What the Body Remembers, and The Supergirls Handbook: A Survival Guide. She has had short stories printed in The Best American Erotica, Men We Cherish, and Gynomite. As an artist-in-resident for the City of Los Angeles and the City of Manhattan Beach, Pam also served as a board member for Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Foundation and has worked for many community arts and social/health organizations, including Black Women for Wellness, Summit on Gang Violence and Art Center College of Design. Currently, Pam Ward is working on her third novel, Between Good Men & No Man at All.
“Bridge Over Troubled Water“
© Pam Ward 2015
Did I Forget to say
Yesterday when the cash
was all blown
and the check didn’t come through
and my ball point wept it’s last blue
Did I forget to tell you
while shuffling through
a kaleidoscope of slick
Hoping for a Get Out Of Jail Free card
and gettin’ stacks of Past Dues instead
Looking for anything
to keep the change-the-locks nightmare away
Did I forget
while I was hustling
to keep the wolves off my back
to keep the hit man at bay
to keep from drowning in the abyss
wondering if
wondering where, why and when
Did I forget to tell you
while searching my unfaithful purse
Cursing the bill collector
or bra-beating my ex
That yes I’ve known Aprils
and apricot moons
and I’ve bathed in your natural
spring waters at dawn
and I’ve worn dresses
as gold as a pawnbroker’s smile
and I’ve known mornings
and the radio playing
and the tang of green curry
because even if I forget to say
you know, dear
you know
you and I
have both always known.