Jessica Walsh
—
Better One // Better Two
the bird in the tree // the bird with a leaf of the tree
the bed of the lake // the bed with a view of the lake
the sun through the blinds // the blind spot of sun with no blinds
your hair in the brush // the chair where she once brushed your hair
your hair left unbrushed // your hair in the mouth of a bird
a bird off to nest // her nest with a view of the lake
her bed by the lake // her bed where she sits while you now brush her hair
the sun on her bed // the sun on the nest she can see from her bed
your hair in the nest // the nest where the bird used a strand of your hair
the bed of the nest // the nest like the bed of a lake where you swam
the lake dried to dust // the dust on the chair where she sat as you swam
her hair in your brush // your bed like the leaf of a tree gone to dust
the tree in the dust // the sun on the nest made of strands of your grief
the grief of the sun // the blind spot of grief with no blinds
Jessica Walsh's poetry can be found in RHINO, Lunch Ticket, Tinderbox, Fatal Flaw Lit and more. She is the author of two poetry collections, most recently The List of Last Tries and two chapbooks. A native of rural Michigan, she is a community college professor in suburban Chicago
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