Anyssa Kim
Originally published in The Evergreen Review Issue 109 in 2004.
face down upon
wet leaves where
no more shall fall
i'd forgotten this moment
when trees cease their applause
upon the stage
my father returns to
avert the final curtain–
its drop, heavy,
white & fleece
weighing down upon his arms
as impending age settles in
our eyes, lapsing to dilations
like stones skimming a pond,
absorbed by blinking crescents
where shadows seep, then
hemorrhage out
through the teeth of life's terminal gate
here, we've wrestled with death's claws
whose gnarled thumbs gouge through
our petrified, leaden hearts,
then leave us to wander
blind, deaf
and mute after
the last rustle of spring
