Letting go
.                        of serrated edges 

 after the rain                stretched flat
on unfamiliar pavement 

.                       leaves bleed themselves
into sidewalks          turning  

their webbed essence
.                                              concrete. 

 

Love                 she used to think
had something to do
.                                     with making him
a cup of tea
.                        on such a day. 

The winter’s heavy carapace
.                                     snaps ice- tight 

squeezing 

.                        her hands warm
.                        with a longing 

she thinks
she can explain.

 

 

Copyright © Daniela Elza. Originally published in Quills Canadian Poetry (2005) and  Fire & Ice (Above & Beyond Productions, 2013).

 

–

Daniela Elza has lived on three continents and crossed numerous geographic, cultural and semantic borders. Her poetry collections are the weight of dew,  the book of It, and milk tooth bane bone, of which David Abram says: “Out of the ache of the present moment, Daniela Elza has crafted something spare and irresistible, an open armature for wonder.” Daniela earned her doctorate in Philosophy of Education from Simon Fraser University. Her latest poetry collection is  forthcoming with Mother Tongue Publishing (April, 2020).

 

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