Listen
What I need to say
may be faint
as a rustle high
in the feathery bamboo,
though I want to sound
bold as the stalks’ off-beat
rhythm sticks in the wind.
I know I fling silence
over my shoulder,
as I turn away,
tired of your glance—
brief as a bird’s
before your attention
flies off—
or vague—
as if I were clouds
gliding by.
Let your eyes rest
on my face. Arrest me
in turn. I will burst
from the seed
of myself.
What I need to say
may be faint
as a rustle high
in the feathery bamboo,
though I want to sound
bold as the stalks’ off-beat
rhythm sticks in the wind.
I know I fling silence
over my shoulder,
as I turn away,
tired of your glance—
brief as a bird’s
before your attention
flies off—
or vague—
as if I were clouds
gliding by.
Let your eyes rest
on my face. Arrest me
in turn. I will burst
from the seed
of myself.
Judy Kronenfeld’s third book of poetry, Shimmer, was published by WordTech Editions in 2012. Her most recent prior full collection is Light Lowering in Diminished Sevenths, winner of the 2007 Litchfield Review Poetry Book Prize (2nd edition, Antrim House, 2012); her most recent chapbook is Ghost Nurseries (Finishing Line, 2005). Her poems, short stories, personal essays and reviews have appeared in journals such as Avatar, Calyx, Cimarron Review, Connotation Press, The American Poetry Journal, Literary Mama, Natural Bridge, Poetry International, Sequestrum, as well as many others. She is Lecturer Emerita, Creative Writing Dept., UC Riverside, and Associate Editor of the online poetry journal, Poemeleon.