Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Kathryn Daszkiewicz

MOSQUITO IN AMBER

MOSQUITO IN AMBER

MOSQUITO IN AMBER

Only for connoisseurs
the lapidarist said.
Kept in a drawer.
Not for display
with agate paperweights
bookends of amethyst.

Mosquitoes were your thing.
I wrote a cheque
took home that black speck
in its yellow mausoleum.

This is no mere decorative
imprint of skeleton in rock
but something trapped
as sticky resin dripped
down trunk and stem.

I imagine it on
your bookcase, next
to the Scandinavian condiments
in a studied absence of photographs.
Close

MOSQUITO IN AMBER

Only for connoisseurs
the lapidarist said.
Kept in a drawer.
Not for display
with agate paperweights
bookends of amethyst.

Mosquitoes were your thing.
I wrote a cheque
took home that black speck
in its yellow mausoleum.

This is no mere decorative
imprint of skeleton in rock
but something trapped
as sticky resin dripped
down trunk and stem.

I imagine it on
your bookcase, next
to the Scandinavian condiments
in a studied absence of photographs.

MOSQUITO IN AMBER

Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère