January 2022
Bio Note: I am looking forward to February and the publication (by FutureCycle Press) of my fifth book of poetry, Groaning and Singing, which is going to have a smashing cover by an artist friend! My poems have recently appeared in Verdad, Rat's Ass Review, and Your Daily Poem.
Summer at Seven
The breeze gathers the thin skin
of the ocean--calm as an inland lake.
Small bird footprints like smocking
in the sand. On the ocean bottom
static peaks and troughs
over which the blue translucent
ripples move, raying out
a harmless light. On my arms
goosebumps. On the back of my neck
the ascending sun. Before noon I will pull out
the day's thread, lie down
on smoothed sheets, shades drawn.
Mother will shake out the topsheet,
which rises like a balloon,
and I will climb in as it comes
down,
down,
down,
down.
First published in Blue Unicorn (1998)
Our Little Life
All night the dream of being lost flickers: I gnaw my nails to the quick of memory; stumble, shine a light on the faces of other sleepers, who are they? Who am I? Yet when I wake, about to lose the dream of being lost, I circle and circle its dimming glow, curl down in the traces like a dog in his favorite spot; I want to immerse myself again, in even the blankest, the most opaque dream frozen on one frame— an infant dreamer dreaming myself half-asleep in the warm bath, until the water spins in a vortex out.
First published in Sow's Ear (2003)
©2022 Judy Kronenfeld
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