Sick
She stands looking on:
Glass clinking,
Bright red flowers,
Healthy smiles and anger.
Where our coats collect dust.
If she chooses at all
It will not be from fear
Or desire…
Now
Hold the sheltering thresh
Hold
Moment now,
Emptying out.
Lesson
Grammarians will explain
What divides fewer from less.
At your parting
Five fewer fingers
To grasp when sinking.
Out of countless vibrations,
Four fewer notes
Such as cannot be sung
By another throat.
Good genie,
My sum of lamp-wishes
Reduced by three.
Two fewer arms
Waving, warning:
Don’t cross there.
The last gone, now is
One less
One,
The earth less by one,
Diminished and one less
You.
***
Laboratory
As the laboratory whirs
Come in
Sit down
Your chair is sterilized
You will wish you were forgotten.
***
Laura’s work has been published in several journals in the US and UK. Her books include The Genie Smiles, among others. She now wishes if it reached Indian audiences. Laura is an American living in Tunisia.
Read more poetry on Bengaluru Review:
“You must be proud of the scars”: Four poems by Cat Dixon
“I remember my brother’s sudden screams”: Three poems by Yvonne Morris
“Bones are not love-handles”: Four poems by Kuhu Joshi
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