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:
- Come, Here Is Adieu To The City by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Humayun To Zobeida (From the Urdu) by Sarojini Naidu
- In Memoriam A. H. H.: 126. Love is and was my Lord and King poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Bitterness by Philip Levine
- In Imitation of Chaucer poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Николай Заболоцкий – Урал
- Владимир Степанов – Утёнок (Буква У)
- Reverie Ofmahomed Akram At The Tamarind Tank
- The Kiss by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Tour by Sylvia Plath
- If Only
- Gentle Heart, Indulge Thy Dreaming by Timothy Thomas Fortune
- Resolve by Sylvia Plath
- The Paper Windmill poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Robert Burns: Address To Edinburgh:
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
- Bantams In Pine-Woods by Wallace Stevens
- Gray Room by Wallace Stevens
- A Postcard From The Volcano by Wallace Stevens
- A High-Toned Old Christian Woman by Wallace Stevens
- A Rabbit As King Of The Ghosts by Wallace Stevens
- Final Soliloquy Of The Interior Paramour by Wallace Stevens
- Domination Of Black by Wallace Stevens
- Disillusionment Of Ten O’clock by Wallace Stevens
- Anecdote Of The Jar by Wallace Stevens
- Not Ideas About The Thing But The Thing Itself by Wallace Stevens
- Metaphors Of A Magnifico by Wallace Stevens
- Looking Across The Fields And Watching The Birds Fly by Wallace Stevens
- Life Is Motion by Wallace Stevens
- Le Monocle de Mon Oncle by Wallace Stevens
- Infanta Marina by Wallace Stevens
- Hymn From A Watermelon Pavilion by Wallace Stevens
- Gubbinal by Wallace Stevens
- Frogs Eat Butterflies, Snakes Eat Frogs, Hogs Eat Snakes, Men Eat Hogs by Wallace Stevens
- Farewell To Florida by Wallace Stevens
- Fabliau Of Florida by Wallace Stevens
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
