Hobble Creek Review
| Kathleen Kirk |
Forgiveness in Lafayette
I believe I could let silkworms hug
the scarlet breath from the mulberry
choking the lilac in the northeast corner
of the yard, but isn’t that blood
vengeance? You tell me I need cold
reason, but reason isn’t cold,
and people grow heavy with what they carry,
with what they can’t undo. I dug
up the tulip bulbs on the north
this spring, where they didn’t want
to open; I’ll move them in September
to a spot beside the black-eyed Susans.
Let’s drive to Lafayette, let’s bite
the bullet, bury the hatchet, build
another bridge to nowheresville,
because that’s what people do, that’s
what people say. You think I’m lying
to you. Then the road bends.
I believe I could let silkworms hug
the scarlet breath from the mulberry
choking the lilac in the northeast corner
of the yard, but isn’t that blood
vengeance? You tell me I need cold
reason, but reason isn’t cold,
and people grow heavy with what they carry,
with what they can’t undo. I dug
up the tulip bulbs on the north
this spring, where they didn’t want
to open; I’ll move them in September
to a spot beside the black-eyed Susans.
Let’s drive to Lafayette, let’s bite
the bullet, bury the hatchet, build
another bridge to nowheresville,
because that’s what people do, that’s
what people say. You think I’m lying
to you. Then the road bends.
Kathleen Kirk has poems in a number of print and online
journals, including IthacaLit, Sweet, Poetry East, and Poems
& Plays. She is the poetry editor for Escape Into Life and the
author of four poetry chapbooks, most recently Nocturnes
(Hyacinth Girl Press, 2012).
journals, including IthacaLit, Sweet, Poetry East, and Poems
& Plays. She is the poetry editor for Escape Into Life and the
author of four poetry chapbooks, most recently Nocturnes
(Hyacinth Girl Press, 2012).
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