Lament, 1971
by Samantha Malay
published in Burningword Literary Journal, issue 84, October 2017
https://burningword.com/tag/84/

 
Put your feet in the creek,
sit next to me in the shade.

Do our voices idle between the books and clothes and dishes we left behind?

Unlock the secrets of the language we used to speak.
Hold on, even as meaning unravels.

Laundry swings on a clothesline, blocks out the sun. There is a storm coming.

Keep still.

We make a circle, five of us, like fingers on a hand.

Bees swarm where the faucet drips.

Pull away, baby boy, from the gestures we inherit.