Poetry |

“unknown caller”

unknown caller          

 

the threads that tie you to this life                 will break

and break you

again               and again           you will remember               the warmth

that resides in the garment                        is not the garment itself

nor a word                  that unspools              from a mouth,

                   the furthest reaches of a word,

cast the substance           itself

in name                          always

otherwise.

 

the wind blows.          the fire spreads.          the mind feels pain.

 

so, too, the tenderness           that resides                 in him              he cannot help

but turn                       against you.

 

it is winter;

you must live for spring.

the red bud branch           scrapes at the window.

every creature, every moss-covered stone

calls out your name.

Contributor
Cintia Santana

Cintia Santana’s debut poetry collection, The Disordered Alphabet (Four Way Books, 2023) received the 43rd Annual Northern California Book Award in Poetry, the 2023 North American Book Award’s Silver Medal, and the 2024 IPPY Bronze Medal. Her poems have appeared in Best New Poets 2016 and 2020, 2023 Best of the Net Anthology, and numerous journals. The recipient of fellowships from CantoMundo, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Santana teaches literary translation and poetry workshops in Spanish and English at Stanford University.

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