He isn’t giving me any answers.
His book of scripture is open on the floor.
If I lean in close, with my lips next to his ear,
He whispers back verse after verse.

It’s no use trying to bridge this world and that.

There is an allision of my joy
Against his fixed self.
Like a bird against the window,
His reflection is unmoved
By my strike of flight.

There are far more important things in this world than I.

 

 

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Heather Derr-Smith is a poet with four books: Each End of the World (Main Street Rag Press, 2005), The Bride Minaret (University of Akron Press, 2008), Tongue Screw (Spark Wheel Press, 2016) and Thrust (Persea Books, 2017). She is the founder and director of the non-profit Cuvaj Se/take Care supporting writers in conflict zones and post-conflict recovery zones.

Read new work from Heather Derr-Smith in TLR: Granary.