{"id":5037,"date":"2016-08-18T12:30:59","date_gmt":"2016-08-18T16:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/glossen\/?page_id=5037"},"modified":"2016-08-29T13:10:08","modified_gmt":"2016-08-29T17:10:08","slug":"poems-from-the-emerald-island","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/glossen\/archive\/glossen-41-august-2016\/poems-from-the-emerald-island\/","title":{"rendered":"“Poems from the Emerald Island”"},"content":{"rendered":"

von Gabrielle Alioth<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the Flood<\/em><\/p>\n

After the flood when the water subsides
\nScars will appear on the island,
\nStumps of trees,
\nThe shells of the drowned.<\/p>\n

For weeks then, the fire will smoulder
\nWith dead branches we pull
\nFrom meadows submerged
\nAnd damaged banks.<\/p>\n

In the cold afternoon light
\nI will raise the fences again
\nPushing the posts deeper
\nInto the ground.<\/p>\n

Through the winter the grass will grow
\nThe chestnut will flower in spring
\nBut it will get harder to look at the river
\nAnd trust your familiar smile.<\/p>\n

Family<\/em>
\n(for Max)<\/p>\n

There was a house
\nwe knew as children
\nwith a dark room
\nwhere fear came from.
\nThere was a blue-rimmed bowl
\nin a kitchen filled
\nwith the smell of milk.<\/p>\n

We remember an old man,
\nsunk in a wicker chair.
\nYou now think he was evil
\nand I can see
\nhis hooked nose
\nin my reflection.<\/p>\n

There is a gesture we share
\nthat others recognize,
\na hesitation before we speak,
\na scent that would deceive a dog.
\nAnd there is
\nwhat we have longed for
\nin lonely nights.<\/p>\n

I had to meet you but once
\nfor knowing you all my life.
\nYou use the words of my past
\nas if you owned them,
\nand in your touch is a warmth
\nI resist to recall.<\/p>\n

The woman<\/em><\/p>\n

I am the woman
\nRunning through the wooded
\nTwilight of your dreams.
\nI am the one you see
\nFrom a moving train
\nLicking an ice cream cone at a village station.<\/p>\n

I am the one you picture
\nIn the bed of your rivals
\nAnd one day you will follow me
\nWhen we meet
\nIn the moonlit night
\nOf a foreign town.<\/p>\n

I have the silken hair
\nYour touch will
\nTurn into snakes.
\nI have the smiling lips
\nwhose kiss will make you
\nburn.<\/p>\n

I am the woman
\nYou long for when
\nYou leave the embrace
\nof your faithful wife,
\nAnd the one, you hope,
\nYour sons will never meet.<\/p>\n

Behind me<\/em><\/p>\n

Every day now
\nI hear his steps behind me
\nSmall shells cracking
\nUnder his feet
\nWhen I walk the beach in the morning.<\/p>\n

As a child
\nI imagined his majestic wings
\nHis soft voice
\nAnd I think
\nI even trusted him.<\/p>\n

Later I smelled his breath
\nOn the skin of my lovers
\nFelt his hand
\nHolding my heart.<\/p>\n

I fought with him
\nOver reason
\nFor my child
\nFor the next spring.<\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019m just waiting
\nTo trip
\nSo he can catch me.<\/p>\n

Savannah<\/em><\/p>\n

In my click-clack high-heel shoes
\nI walk through the hot summer night
\nOn the arm of a sailor
\nWith honey-brown eyes.<\/p>\n

Trees cover the square in
\nMidnight shadows, houses
\nSmile on streets paved
\nWith treacle of memories.<\/p>\n

And on the Camellia rug
\nOf the iron-framed bed
\nI will taste the spice of life in your sweat,
\nFeel the angel\u00b4s wing.<\/p>\n

In my high-heel shoes
\nI will keep walking through the shadows of time
\nBared of a future,
\nFreed from the past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

von Gabrielle Alioth After the Flood After the flood when the water subsides Scars will appear on the island, Stumps of trees, The shells of the drowned. For weeks then, the fire will smoulder With dead branches we pull From meadows submerged And damaged banks. In the cold afternoon light I will raise the fences […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":282,"featured_media":0,"parent":4915,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5037","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/glossen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/glossen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/glossen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/glossen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/282"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/glossen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/glossen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5037\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/glossen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/glossen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}