I watched the froth go down and the yellow liquid rise to meet it. I twisted the glass around and it tipped over and spilled on his arthritic knee. I looked to the side and didn’t apologize. His beautiful bony fingers flicked off the foam in separate particles as if it was incidental lint he had finally noticed.
The decision is yours now.
He rubbed the liquid into his pant leg. I sighed. Either decision I make will kill something.
And so, you want to hang in this ether land forever?
Yes.
And if I pulled your hair?
And if I scalded your mouth?
And if I made a teepee of birch billets with you in the centre?
Look at me.
No.
He went away.
Next night the phone rang.
I’ll meet you at Glacier and First Point. You must be exact.
I’ll be there for three evenings.
For three nights I wore myself ragged but couldn’t find where.
Friday evening the doorbell rang. He handed me two books by Aksel Sandemose. I put my fingers exactly where his warm fingerprints still lingered on the top book and closed the door. I read and waited.
(There was a tidal wave and a woman went from window to window with a candle in her hand as her house floated out the bay. They rescued her in St. Lawrence.)
When you are ready, if ever, light your own candle.
Two years later, my hand shook as I held the match. His hair had greyed around the temples and he crippled shyly.
Five years later, two babies look hauntingly like him. He is chopping wood in the backyard. He stops.
Look at me. I fooled you years ago. Glacier is in Iceland and I tore out all the pages where it was written in that book. Do you regret that we called the babies Abstract and Zero? Come feel Aunt Hilda and Didymus under my fingernails.
His gentle laugh ripped the night sky, and I got pregnant again.
Copyright ©:
Agnes Walsh
A few random poems:
- Николай Языков – Землетрясенье
- A Hymn To Venus by Sappho
- In The Carolinas by Wallace Stevens
- Николай Карамзин – Послание к Александру Алексеевичу Плещееву
- The Narrative by Talha Jafri
- Sketch in Verse, inscribed to the Right Hon. C. J. Fox by Robert Burns
- The Song Maker by Sara Teasdale
- Vivien
- Владимир Британишский – Аэрогеофизик
- Валерий Брюсов – Двадцать лет назад ты умерла
- Fatima | Best Love Poems
- St. Alphonsus Rodriguez poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Владимир Маяковский – Юг завоевала победа… (РОСТА №568)
- English Poetry. Mary Wortley Montagu. Epigram, 1734. Мэри Уортли Монтегю.
- The Little Turtle by Vachel Lindsay
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- I Shout Love by Milton Acorn
- I know our friendship wil never end by Miraj Patel
- I Just Wanna Make You Mine Girl by Miraj Patel
- I Just Wanna Be Your Number One by Miraj Patel
- I Have A Friend I Can Proudly Say by Miraj Patel
- I Just Wanna Be Your Valentine by Miraj Patel
- I Can Feel The Same by Miraj Patel
- Househunting by Mike Yuan
- Hiking by Mike Yuan
- Growth: for Allen Qing Yuan by Mike Yuan
- Global Warning by Mike Yuan
- Four Corners by Michelle Bonczek Evory
- Forever Ya by Miraj Patel
- Far Pitched Tents: Poems of War by Michael Nikoletseas
- Entering the Body by Michelle Bonczek Evory
- Elizabeth by Michael Ondaatje
- East Idioms (1): A Fable by Mike Yuan
- Don’t Hang Up The Phone by Miraj Patel
- Christmas Dance of the Hours by Michael T. Bee
- Change of Climate by Michael S Wilson
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works
