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  • Waiting

    From randymon@randymon@tilde.club to tilde.poetry on Sun Sep 6 22:46:34 2026
    Waiting

    I'm waiting
    in my locked chest
    in my wound too tight clock
    waiting for the tremor
    for the throb
    of the knob
    turned.
    for the click back
    of the no locks
    on doors.

    I'm prone on the block
    waiting for the shot
    from the barrel
    waiting for the shock
    to release me
    to be made in water.
    to ecstatic swim
    as salmon
    up
    to sail
    into the mouth
    of the bear.

    I'm daily fishing the paddle
    from its lingerie nest
    dropping my drawers
    humming
    waiting to be her task next

    to be
    the songbird shamed
    to not
    sing
    in the talon.

    Bolt upright
    in night
    I'm waiting on a cleaving.
    for the cut that makes a rut
    for his leaving.
    forcing hands where I may
    If I make him now
    I won't wonder
    when he will.

    Forgetting
    always forgetting
    to tell a stranger
    "everything will be alright"
    as our plane falls from the sky.
    To remember that any moment
    can be broken
    by a sudden act of beauty.

    -- Sandra Johnson

    The Poetry Buffet
    An Anthology of New Orleans
    New Orleans Poetry Journal Press, 2023
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