Poem of the Month
Regain

By Oana Avasilichioaei

Published on August 4, 2015

Tonight it will rain on the green dunes of limestone.
Wine preserved until now in a dead man’s mouth
will awaken the realm of footbridges, displaced in a bell.
A human tongue will clang courage inside a helmet.

And so trees will come at a quickened pace,
to wait for a voiced leaf, brought in an urn,
herald of sleep’s coast sent off to a tide of flags.
Let it soak in your eyes, so I think we’re dying together.

Your hair streaming from mirrors will blanket the sky
in which, with a frigid hand, I’ll flame an autumn.
From waters drunk by the blind, my stunted laurel
will climb a belated ladder to bite from your brow.

More Poetry

Gastronaut

I would cut off my own thumb for the perfect thimbleful
of wood-ear mushroom and bamboo shoot soup.

My paychecks all go to heirloom parsnips and pickled lamb tongues.
I dream of singed pigs’ feet, pearly cartilage and crisp skin.

Archaic Torso

We cannot know his ordinary head except from photographs, eyes wholly terrified. And yet his torso, bent over ...

Insurance Claim

Here’s how it panned out:
the stick of dynamite,
thrown on the pond
to break up ice for trout