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:
- Song III: It Grew Up Without Heeding by William Morris
- The Kingdom by Rudyard Kipling
- Олег Григорьев – Угро
- Not Fear by Rafael Guillen
- Gray Room by Wallace Stevens
- English Poetry. Thomas Moore. From “Irish Melodies”. 103. The Mountain Spite. Томас Мур.
- Владимир Гиляровский – Белоснежные туманы
- Walk with Me by Tammy L Ames
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Ты холодна
- The Sparrow’s Nest by William Wordsworth
- Robert Burns: Scroggam, My Dearie:
- Robert Burns: Raving Winds Around Her Blowing: I composed these verses on Miss Isabella M’Leod of Raza, alluding to her feelings on the death of her sister, and the still more melancholy death of her sister’s husband, the late Earl of Loudoun, who shot himself out of sheer heart-break at some mortifications he suffered, owing to the deranged state of his finances.-R.B., 1971.
- To A Young Beauty by William Butler Yeats
- A Florilegium poem – Alfred Austin
- Confused and Distraught by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
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
- Kinetic Poem 2 by Roger McGough
- Jazz by Roland Bastien
- Goodbat Nightman by Roger McGough
- First Day at School by Roger McGough
- Did you call me Love by Rohini bhatia singh
- Cauls of Haw by Roland Bastien
- Cake by Roger McGough
- Beguiling by Roger McGough
- You Look Up Pictures of Icelandic Ponies by Ruth Madievsky
- Words Of Advice by Ronald G. Auguste
- Who is the Bogeyman? by Ross D Tyler
- Wherever You Go, There You Are by Ryssel Guzman
- We Miss You So Much by Ronald G. Auguste
- Trial by Ruth Padel
- To A Wife, On Mother’s Day by Ronald G. Auguste
- Tiger Drinking at Forest Pool by Ruth Padel
- Threads of Gold by Ronald G. Auguste
- Thoughts by Ronald G. Auguste
- The useless counsellor by Ross D Tyler
- The tragic tale of Bobby Magee by Ross D Tyler
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
