"soul" by Thomas Gillaspy
"Winter Hymn" by Anna Kelley
We could be two nervous creatures looking at each other.
We could hold November between us like a bedsheet to be folded.
This is the strangest thing to happen in history.
I used to dream about the mountains—their gnarled
and starving bodies. The patient mounds of their eyes.
I dream about waiting for the bank teller now,
or buying groceries.
I walk around with a face full of blood and your breath
an echoed birdcall blowing through me.
It’s not a winter for malaise or thin ghost songs.
The potatoes stayed tender this year. We could have eaten them
straight from the ground, barely cold
and the brown down on your arms would lie flat.
I would have been brave enough to call you by your birth name.
I would not ask about the wild turkeys
that padded round us, crunching the fallen hulls
of black walnuts.
Give me a sheared-off stone to hold in your stead.
I could learn to be lonely too.
We could hold November between us like a bedsheet to be folded.
This is the strangest thing to happen in history.
I used to dream about the mountains—their gnarled
and starving bodies. The patient mounds of their eyes.
I dream about waiting for the bank teller now,
or buying groceries.
I walk around with a face full of blood and your breath
an echoed birdcall blowing through me.
It’s not a winter for malaise or thin ghost songs.
The potatoes stayed tender this year. We could have eaten them
straight from the ground, barely cold
and the brown down on your arms would lie flat.
I would have been brave enough to call you by your birth name.
I would not ask about the wild turkeys
that padded round us, crunching the fallen hulls
of black walnuts.
Give me a sheared-off stone to hold in your stead.
I could learn to be lonely too.
Anna Kelley is pursuing an MFA in poetry at Syracuse University. She is a reader for Salt Hill. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Cherry Tree, Chagrin River Review, CICADA, Fourth & Sycamore, and Cellar Door.
Thomas Gillaspy is a northern California photographer. His photography has been featured in numerous magazines including the literary journals: Compose, Portland Review and Brooklyn Review. Further information and additional examples of his work are available at: http://www.thomasgillaspy.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomasmichaelart/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomasmichaelart/
