POEM
Negotiation
You take the mortar; I’ll take the pestle,
the weight we laid five years before the door.
You take the door, its flank and hollow.
You take the hollow morning we set out,
I’ll take the conch shell, the sea.
You take the sea, our kitchen window looking out on it.
I’ll take the kitchen; you take the potatoes,
their rough edges, their eyes.
You take the flashlight’s eye we turned skyward
to rebut the stars. I’ll take the sky it travels.
You take my fear of long journeys, of talking in my sleep.
I’ll take sleep and the first morning sounds
of the monastery on the hill. You take the monks;
I’ll take the way they sweep the ground
before every step, the way they nurse other men’s
crippled oxen through long flickering nights.
Lisa Olstein, “Negotiation” from Radio Crackling, Radio Gone. Copyright 2006 by Lisa Olstein. Reprinted with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P. O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368-0271, www.coppercanyonpress.org.
Source: Radio Crackling, Radio Gone (2006)
Olstein grew up near Boston, Massachusetts. She received a BA from Barnard College and an MFA in . . . MORE »
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Radio Crackling, Radio Gone
(Copper Canyon Press)
