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:
- The Night Dances by Sylvia Plath
- Song—O Tibbie, I hae seen the day by Robert Burns
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Дом в цветах
- Sonnet 41: Those pretty wrongs that liberty commits by William Shakespeare
- In the Mile End Road poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- In Memory Of My Mother by Patrick Kavanagh
- The Solitary Oak On Mount Kremlin Bicetre
- Mad Day In March by Philip Levine
- Aunt Jennifers Tigers
- Orlando Furioso Canto 16 by Ludovico Ariosto
- Sonnet 73: That time of year thou mayst in me behold by William Shakespeare
- Morning In The Hospital Solarium by Sylvia Plath
- Кондратий Рылеев – Гусь и змия
- Threads of Gold by Ronald G. Auguste
- Нина Воронель – Снег
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
- The Licorice Fields at Pontefract poem – John Betjeman poems
- The Last Laugh poem – John Betjeman poems
- The Irish Unionist’s farewell to Greta Hellastrom in 1922 poem – John Betjeman poems
- The Hon. Sec. poem – John Betjeman poems
- The Cottage Hospital poem – John Betjeman poems
- Sun and Fun poem – John Betjeman poems
- South London Sketch poem – John Betjeman poems
- Slough poem – John Betjeman poems
- Senex poem – John Betjeman poems
- Seaside Golf poem – John Betjeman poems
- On a Portrait of a Deaf Man poem – John Betjeman poems
- Myfanwy poem – John Betjeman poems
- Mortality poem – John Betjeman poems
- Middlesex poem – John Betjeman poems
- Meditation on the A30 poem – John Betjeman poems
- Loneliness poem – John Betjeman poems
- Ireland With Emily poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
- Inexpensive Progress poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
- In Westminster Abbey poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
- How To Get On In Society poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
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
