Selected poems
Decadence
Lying on our side in concavity
spoon-nesting the warmth of skin
your breath on my shoulder
an idle arm draped like loose ribbon
two commas ,, an extra long pause —
after so much exertion there’s respite
(we’ve just bracketed)
encircled one another
I don’t want an ellipsis fade to black …
but an arrest in time
or a backward space <--
to the first line in our story.
Lasso
You’re a scavenger
so restless in your wakings
picking remnants in the hours
thieving at the doorstep
to sleep-this threshold
I turn to your profile
mussed hair dark on grey
we are always touching
a careless limb a stray finger
ankles knees and elbows
the bread-warm stretch of you
chest beat like wings
slipping in and out
breaking surface tension
and my thoughts of you
a lasso made of motes.
For you I would
For you I would
fold the passage of time
into small portable squares
surrender kites from their strings
capture the heart of a geode
For you I would
rinse the dark sky clean
braid the air with veering eagles
swallow a wild red peony
cut through a field of sugarcane
For you I would
replace all lacunae
with hieroglyphics
score the stone of us
soft buff until sheen.
Thuy On is Reviews Editor of ArtsHub and an editor, critic and poet. Her first book, a collection of poetry, Turbulence, was published in 2020 by UWAP. She's presently working on her second collection, Decadence. Author photo by Brett Rawlings photography.