The Robin’s Breast Will Always Be Red
by Lori Levy
Is this what you want? A taste of certainty
as unmistakable as guava or mango,
as pungent as a pepper freshly sliced?
Health, for example: not a question, but a lemon or a lime,
a drop of citrus tingling on the tongue.
Life like geometry perhaps; the saltiness of segments, arcs,
and angles. Your future licked in, say, an octagon,
your children’s in a multitude of rays.
To know what’s coming, the scent of the candles
that will glow in their homes. The good that is coming,
the pumpkin, vanilla, or rose. Or is it something else
you crave? Not the substance nor the clarity of spice,
just a trace of what lingers on the spoon.
The warmth of the metal. The promise in its shine.
Not an answer, just a flavor in the chest,
as of love that has mellowed and settled inside.
Lori Levy’s poems have appeared in Rattle, Confrontation, Paterson Literary Review, Mom Egg Review, and numerous other literary journals and anthologies in the U.S., U.K., and Israel. She lives with her family in Los Angeles. "The Robin's Breast Will Always Be Red" appeared in The Comstock Review, Fall/Winter 2004, Vol. 18, #2.
by Lori Levy
Is this what you want? A taste of certainty
as unmistakable as guava or mango,
as pungent as a pepper freshly sliced?
Health, for example: not a question, but a lemon or a lime,
a drop of citrus tingling on the tongue.
Life like geometry perhaps; the saltiness of segments, arcs,
and angles. Your future licked in, say, an octagon,
your children’s in a multitude of rays.
To know what’s coming, the scent of the candles
that will glow in their homes. The good that is coming,
the pumpkin, vanilla, or rose. Or is it something else
you crave? Not the substance nor the clarity of spice,
just a trace of what lingers on the spoon.
The warmth of the metal. The promise in its shine.
Not an answer, just a flavor in the chest,
as of love that has mellowed and settled inside.
Lori Levy’s poems have appeared in Rattle, Confrontation, Paterson Literary Review, Mom Egg Review, and numerous other literary journals and anthologies in the U.S., U.K., and Israel. She lives with her family in Los Angeles. "The Robin's Breast Will Always Be Red" appeared in The Comstock Review, Fall/Winter 2004, Vol. 18, #2.