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:
- A seed’s destiny by Neelam Sinha
- Зинаида Александрова – Колокольчики
- Robert Burns: The Farewell To the Brethren of St. James’ Lodge, Tarbolton:
- Robert Burns: The Braw Wooer:
- Erotic comics by Hanz Kovacq, porn comic books by known illustrators – continued
- Genesis by Vachel Lindsay
- Федор Сологуб – В моей лампаде ясный свет
- Memorials Of A Tour In Scotland, 1803 XII. Yarrow Unvisited by William Wordsworth
- Epitaph for Mr. William Michie, Schoolmaster by Robert Burns
- Bituminous? by Shel Silverstein
- The Journey by Yvor Winters
- Алишер Навои – Скиталец горький, страсть таю я
- Happiness by Wilfred Owen
- Executive poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
- Drum-Taps. by Walt Whitman
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
- Lynching
- Kimchi
- The Kingfisher poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Cooling Tower poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- Stacking The Straw poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- Stacking The Straw poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- Gradual Clearing poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- Brought From Beyond poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Hairline Fracture poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Cure At Porlock poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Poem about Sauerkraut
- Cabbage
- Women’s Song Of The Corn poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Women’s Harvest Song poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Women’s Song Of The Corn poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Women’s Harvest Song poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- White Currants poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Vespers poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Two Lacquer Prints poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Twenty-Four Hokku On A Modern Theme poem – Amy Lowell 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
