Nicole Callihan

grief being a swatch of blue & grief being that song from childhood & grief being a pitched tent
June 24, 2022 Callihan Nicole

grief being a swatch of blue

 

a rectangle in an unborn son’s room
morning glory   secret cove   sleepy hollow
o snowdrop   balmy   respite   open seas
loyal   stream   that little dump truck
undumped   vast sky   rarified air
the cosmos in the can so different
than the cosmos on the wall   so
different than the cosmos where
you began   glimmer in my eye
stardew turned atmospheric splinter

 

 

grief being that song from childhood

 

o spider o rollerskates
o jesus o jesus o jesus
how my knees used to bruise
the pears    the sky
I am so blue and purply
even your thumb hurts me

 

 

grief being a pitched tent

 

when autumn coming came
the ball jars on the wooden table
held nasturtiums and wine
a stone in the throat   how
shameful to be alive and wade
into a cold lake under the sky

Nicole Callihan writes poems and stories. Her books include SuperLoopThe Deeply Flawed Human, and ELSEWHERE (with Zoë Ryder White). Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Kenyon ReviewColorado ReviewConduitThe American Poetry Review, and as a Poem-a-Day selection from the Academy of American Poets. Learn more at www.nicolecallihan.com.