Laura Sheahen

Tremor

In our garden
earthworms wriggled up from their burrows
you and I stooped to marvel

In our pond
bottom feeders surfaced
we puzzled
then shrugged

In our trees
birds sang in off hours
and took flight
we wondered 
forgot

In our house all unmoved
secure in our primacy
we watched insects flail and stampede
unlike them
we are on solid ground

In the night as we slept
with a sharp violent quake                
our love fissured apart          

Now we walk past the corpses of earthworms
floating fish
fallen nests

the remains of the ones
who sensed what is seismic
unlike us
those who knew




Target

the muse picks smooth rocks
for the stoning

each bruise
where dead blood blossoms
is a poem


Laura Sheahen has been published in Stirring, The Manhattan Review, In Posse Review, MiPOesias, Four Way Review, and several journals in the UK. She works in humanitarian aid.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Taylor Emily Copeland - Two poems

Image
Kala gives a tour of hell This is the metal box he locked me in. This is the chain he used to keep me bound. This is where he shot Charlie three times in the chest. This is where he buried him, like a dead animal. This is where I was allowed to walk around, like a dog, to smell the air, to hope for release. This when we hear about how likeable my captor was, how he was a great boss, a model citizen, never the type to do this. This is when I don't talk about my bare back against a metal floor, about tasting his scent, about the thumping sound in closed in spaces, and how it echoes in my teeth and eyes. This is when you can read about the fourteen year old that he bound and forced, about how they released him, gave him the chance to step up his game. This is the hole a gun makes, a shovel makes, a void makes when someone you love dies. This is when I give the story an edit, a heroine. When someone asks me what its like to kiss another girl It tastes like cotton candy,
Read more

Alla Vilnyansky - Two poems

Master Class: Cinderella Practicing Violin It takes special skill to acknowledge that almost anything may be mended. My mother plays the piano, beats her knuckles against the black and white keys—welds sounds together. Fingers thick; nails painted crimson not the typical hands of a concert pianist. Above her depicted in a Victorian dress—the instrument serving as her accessory; her captive audience. Who unhinged the gate through which her carriage, was set to arrive? (previously published in Zaum) On Lenin’s Mausoleum and Love After Jenny Browne Not every glance is capable of conveying all things at once: love, anger, frustration. I remember your mother’s house the inside of a ship. I know you thought things would be alright turning to sand, all of it coming down. In “Love Letter to a Stranger” you’re always you and I’m always me. A body you’ll do anything to preserve. (previously published in Scryptic) Alla Vilnyansky was born in the Ukraine and came to t
Read more

Jonathan Dowdle - two poems

3 AM Insomnia Perhaps, my darling, The most intimate thing we can do Is give another our sorrow, To be open, split, and vulnerable, Even while knowing The wound might not be sealed, But left open, and crying, The way a child does, Without shame, or reprimand, But merely To have the hurt held As though it were just another Part of us. Ache You beat until you bruised my heart, You don't get to ask Why it's gone black.  Jonathan Douglas Dowdle was born in Nashua, NH and has traveled throughout the US, he currently resides in South Carolina. Previous works have appeared or are appearing in: Hobo Camp Review, 322 Review, The Write Place At The Write Time, Blue Hour Review, and After The Pause.
Read more