The Slide of Living, and: The Topic, and: Lesson
Rent from DeepDyve- The Slide of Living, and: The Topic, and: Lesson
The Slide of Living
Said he wanted to step outside for a smoke,and would I join him presently.
A couple of years before I noticed the slantof his left eye. before I noticedI was populated.
And certain interludes figureinto whichever summer.Bottomless circumstances find their shape,and end later.Something new can be gleaned from this, I suppose.
The link is to be found in the slide of living:in those incandescent moments,in the smallest of gestures;in your own delicate hands which remind me—
The Topic
Sent to ear, not to landfills.To branches where birds land to replenish.To homes half covered by shrubs—back to the arbiter and the catalyst. [End Page 104]
Through incisions—in paroxysms, rhythms;a breaking forth from the tired waters.
The topic, the past:written, rewritten, and put awayin a garage, waiting.Waiting and collecting.
Lesson
She stepped on a snake early.Crush no grain on this Angel's day.
In between shimmer and dive—a toast to tough shadows.
New little thunder,I saw you slip down the road under the lover'sprimary pressure. [End Page 105]
Magdelawit M. Tesfaye's poems have appeared in WomenArts Quarterly Journal, the Los Angeles Review, and Artillery Magazine, among others. Originally from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, she currently lives in Los Angeles.
