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:
- Astrophel and Stella VII: WhenNature Made her Chief Work by Sir Philip Sidney
- A Fixed Idea poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Николай Гумилев – Они спустились до реки
- Magnolia Shoals by Sylvia Plath
- One Word
- I am only the house of your beloved by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Валерий Брюсов – Последнее желанье
- Sparkles from The Wheel. by Walt Whitman
- Rite of Spring by Seamus Heaney
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. Haunted. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- Three Sonnets Written In Mid-Channel poem – Alfred Austin
- In Memoriam A. H. H.: 2. Old Yew, which graspest at the sto poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Quality Customer Service – How to Measure Customer Satisfaction
- Spelt From Sibyl’s Leaves poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- The Recall by Rabindranath Tagore
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
- On Imagination by Phillis Wheatley
- On Being Brought from Africa to America by Phillis Wheatley
- Ode To Neptune by Phillis Wheatley
- Niobe in Distress by Phillis Wheatley
- Isaiah LXIII by Phillis Wheatley
- Goliath Of Gath by Phillis Wheatley
- An Hymn To The Morning by Phillis Wheatley
- An Hymn To The Evening by Phillis Wheatley
- An Hymn To Humanity by Phillis Wheatley
- An Answer To The Rebus, By The Author Of These Poems by Phillis Wheatley
- A Rebus, By I. B. by Phillis Wheatley
- A Funeral Poem on the Death of C.E. by Phillis Wheatley
- A Farewel To America to Mrs. S. W. by Phillis Wheatley
- Subtlety
- An Invitation
- wonder life by PALLAVI SINGH
- Why do ye torture me? by Patrick Pearse
- When I Looked At You by Patrick Neo Mabiletsa
- What I Love by Pamela L. Laskin
- Twelve Years by Paul Celan
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
