43
rue de Saintonge
By
Cecilia Woloch
There was
a book full of fallen leaves that had not been read
There was a chance
There was a chair near a window, a lamp
There was a sky of hammered tin with a few thin clouds in it, some birds
There was
a chance
A noise in the courtyard like rain, and rain, and the clatter of keys
There was a sky of hammered tin with a few thin clouds in it, some birds
And several clocks at once and, everywhere, bridges, a river like smoke
A noise
in the courtyard like rain, and rain, and the clatter of keys
A stairway being climbed in both directions, curved and steep
And several clocks at once and, everywhere, bridges, a river like smoke
There was a taxi moving slowly through the streets, the city blurred
A stairway
being climbed in both directions, curved and steep
A door behind which jazz was playing softly, candles burned
There was a taxi moving slowly through the streets, the city blurred
A rosary of longing being fingered, bead by bead
A door
behind which jazz was playing softly, candles burned
And little tongues of flame cast into mirrors and thrown back
A rosary of longing being fingered, bead by bead
Dusk: the curtains gathering their shadows, and a bed
And little
tongues of flame cast into mirrors and thrown back
There was a chair near a window, a lamp
Dusk: the curtains gathering their shadows, and a bed
There was a book full of fallen leaves that had not (that still has
not) been read
About the Author: Cecilia Woloch
is the author of Sacrifice (Cahuenga Press 1997); Tsigan:
The Gypsy Poem (Cahuenga Press 2002); and Late
(BOA Editions Ltd., 2003). Her poems also appear in such anthologies
as Best American Poetry 2005, Poetry 180, and Good Poetry, edited by
Garrison Keillor; her essays and reviews have been published in The
Poetry Flash, Speechless, and The Cider Press Review. She is the director
of Summer Poetry in Idyllwild and The Paris Poetry Workshop, and serves
on the faculty of the MFA Program in Writing at Western Connecticut
State University.
"43 rue deSaintonge" first appeared in the journal Water~Stone,
and is included in Late, published in 2003 by BOA Editions, Ltd."
Her books
can be purchased by visiting our pages
of books.
