| InterBoard Poetry Competition | |
it ends with paper it began with hair and silk
Richard Zola
(OZPoet)
i've touched seen tasted
all of your skin
i've seen you lie
i've seen you standing
among trees in half light
waiting for a reason
to weave flowers between your legs
and today i read your letter:
parallel lines on unlined paper
(i remember you standing
your back to light
your face not visible
only your body through
cotton and silk)
you're living now in minnesota
with an accountant
a tall man who knows about antelopes
and maps
and you cook the fish he brings
on saturdays
there are lines on your belly
and you wear glasses to read
you can see industry
from your high window
and you won't return to england
you're writing this letter
at 2.30pm
alone in the house until 7
you don't wear bracelets now
and only 1 ring
you know my address is the same
and hope that the voodoo girl is dead
until today you kept the words i wrote
in that pewter box from brighton
today the stove has them
and the box sank quickly
(i remember you naked at 3am
in that room on montrell road
-- gas pipes and dirty pans --
searching for candles
and no money for the meter)
you hear me still in english phrases
and in fields through a windshield
you've asked a priest for absolution
and you're writing this letter
(remember your head bent over paper
in that room with icons on the wall
and hanging plants touching)
across my face
and signing it across my mouth
i'll read your letter again today
and tomorrow and at night
when there's snow
this one page:
parallel lines on unlined paper
no address
Judge Harvey Stanbrough’s comment: “Again, bravo for an excellent poem. This poet’s masterful use of line breaks hooked me from the beginning and allowed no escape from the wistful story accomplished in 'it ends with paper it began with hair and silk.'”
About the InterBoard Poetry Competition
Archive of IBPC Winners
Honorable Mentions, July 2001
