ANNE SEXTON AND I LYING AMONG THE STARS

I almost understand your eyes,

two seagulls lost between the sea

and some pain. I almost find my

another self when your poems

emerge in my weak veins and

fish illusions out of my heart.

Splendor is your poetry that

still feeds me on peace and

truth and releases me under

the amnesty declared by my

solitude.

I am my own dead muse and

nothing exists. Nothing: cities

or even answers. I just want

to close my eyes and lie among

the stars. But the old serpent

swallowed all of them and I die

together with the fallen angels.

My heart is still in love with

your words though. They are

still my daisies, they are still

the wounds I carry when I

read your poems and I dream

once more about what I love

and fear: this ever protected pain

ready to devour me again.

Karla Bardanza