Kelley Jean White

Pediatrician Kelley White has worked in inner-city Philadelphia and rural New Hampshire. Her poems have appeared in Exquisite Corpse, Rattle and JAMA. Her most recent collection is NO. HOPE STREET (Kelsay Books). She received a 2008 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant.

When she asked you to buy her a drink (Poem)

I must tell you friendly in your ear, sell when you can, you are not for all markets. -- William Shakespeare, As You Like It (Act 3 Scene 5)

You said no. But you told me about it.

Then, and now, as if it were a sign

of your worth, your manliness, and not

a sign of your desperation. You did not

imagine this pretty woman was

a man. Nor do you believe it even today,

despite the headlines, despite the pictures,

despite the newscasts and the crippled

celebrity ‘sponsor,’ the car accordion folded

on the sharp curve of the road. That another

man would come on to you? Didn’t you know

the nature of that bar?