Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Nicolette Stasko

Poem for Jessica

Poem for Jessica

Poem for Jessica

The time for flowers has passed
and we are left with each other
the hard and the soft of it
I am your mother
nothing else is clear
between you and me.

I take you out in the sun
pale grub
dug out of dark earth
birth sadness seeps in.

Your soft breath flickers and
I am like an eye
closing against pain
a progression of faces,
all of them,
none of them, yours

We are like reeds by the sea
a lattice only
at the whim of storms, the seasons,
a basket holding sky,
at times empty.
Close

Poem for Jessica

The time for flowers has passed
and we are left with each other
the hard and the soft of it
I am your mother
nothing else is clear
between you and me.

I take you out in the sun
pale grub
dug out of dark earth
birth sadness seeps in.

Your soft breath flickers and
I am like an eye
closing against pain
a progression of faces,
all of them,
none of them, yours

We are like reeds by the sea
a lattice only
at the whim of storms, the seasons,
a basket holding sky,
at times empty.

Poem for Jessica

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
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