Angular Separation & Still Winged Apparition

Angular Separation

Recently, I’ve traipsed the same trail with rust-
ridden equestrian signs and mossed benches, and if I tried

walking sideways, like you
want to, I’d never leave. Desire

paths the deepest shade, reminding
me: I only miss your belongingness

to the thin, ever-expanding sun-bleached road
behind– the eyes in constant strain. The days

planned like the pour of coffee: the stir, the clank
of it I think too much about. My mouth

feels tired, old. The spit is stale, an ache
you don’t talk about, the one that tastes

like old jeans. A brine slowly soaking
our chins– like the peel

zesting the rest of the dish. If only
you’d known how to pull the steeped

tang of my blood– the stiffness a dry
heat, an intake of the horizon sucked

in, a measuring of amplitude
you could never quite form

Still-Winged Apparition

Strange anomaly, fluttering orb       beside light, humming-
bird asking for sugar, water     sweet, beam

                                                                      inside the pane,

are you certain loss is but a part of season? I am asking
for a friend, I am asking because

                                       there aren’t enough

iced tea summers to supply distraction, although
this patio garden contained in pots

                                                      just barely cracking       is something.

I am certain, that is, that I am uncertain there is anything
worth more than        this hum of sound

                                                      inside light. Tiny bumble

bee-like bird, gather– that is what this is, is it not?
Dreamy dry land        speckled with dripping        night flowers

                                                                             already open for you.

---

Lisa Compo attends Salisbury University in Maryland where she studies creative writing and is currently chief editor for the campus’ magazine. She has work recently published in journals such as: Natural Bridge, The Shore Poetry, and was a 2019 semi-finalist for the Pablo Neruda Poetry Prize for Nimrod International Journal.   

Photo Credit: Logan Tozzi, New Mexico Review Staff