i s s u e: 1
// p o e t r y
In The Wind, I Think I Hear Your Voice
by Amy G. Smith
it seems a thousand years since the air rang
with the sound of your words pulsing
through the tiny bones in my ears
you stood naked that day haloed
by the yellow aura from a single
light bulb your head angled back
toward our bed where the residue
of our humming bodies still hovered
the dawning light was singing the birds
awake at breakfast you spread strawberry
jam on your toast your temporary laugh
already a language of loss time froze
into a shape that would be called
yesterday our fated late meeting
sweeping dust from the sky
leaving just a brilliant
blue sheen a faint echo
across a desert sky
Ode to Blessing
by Amy G. Smith
You arrive in your coattails; the long stem roses you carry
still have thorns. You are a cool cloth on a hot forehead, cold
breeze crossing a waiting heart. You are the sun slipping
through streaks on soiled windows, years of dirt wiped
thin with a wet rag. A stone slipping smoothly into place;
a hand on the back of a tired shoulder; the final puzzle piece.
You are not a promise. You are a momentary pause, a breath
between songs. Fingers caressing a jawline. A fluke. A favor.
Sometimes you arrive disguised as agony, wearing the colors
of trickster, bringing the grace of cataclysmic understanding.
Sometimes your arrival goes unnoticed. The laughter after
the loss; the heart keening toward the ground in grief.
To bless is to mark with blood, to consecrate, make holy.
Invocation for the doubters. A benediction; not penance, not
punishment, but a jagged crack, a wound stitched loosely
by the blight of a blessed life.
about the author // Amy G. Smith
| Amy G. Smith is a poet living and writing in Northern Nevada. Her poems have appeared in several places, including: Humana Obscura, Gyroscope Review, contemporary haibun online, and the Wee Sparrow Water Anthology. Amy is currently pursuing her MFA degree in poetry through the low-residency program at the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe. |
Instagram: @amysgj
Facebook: @amy.sgj amysmithpoet.com
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