Out walking
by Lauren Camp
as I have each night this week—
20 minutes to dusk
it’s coming on summer
chamisa not yet in flower but the heat rising 84 degrees
chamisa not yet in flower but the heat rising 84 degrees
the beginning of night fueled by
last moments of day
time is calmer
fringed with heat and the first wordless promise
fringed with heat and the first wordless promise
of breeze
the sun still pricks my skin but
the mountain stands by
ready to catch it
and now I understand how you can
tell me stage 4 inoperable cancer
without
choking on fear
because dark will come on as it
does
every night
so let it
* * * * *
"Out walking" was first
published in Adobe Wall Anthology and is part of the author's poetry
collection The Dailiness (Edwin E. Smith Publishing, 2013).
Lauren Camp’s newest book is Took House (Tupelo
Press, 2020). Her poems have appeared in The Los Angeles Review, Pleiades, Poet
Lore, Slice, DIAGRAM and other journals.
Winner of the Dorset Prize, Lauren has also received fellowships from The Black
Earth Institute and The Taft-Nicholson Center, and finalist citations for
the Arab American Book Award, the Housatonic Book Award and the New Mexico-Arizona
Book Award. www.laurencamp.com
Intriguing, intimately sensuous prelude to startling anguish. Roll over, Haydn!
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