She stands by the sink,
by the salad, by the wine,
opens her throat
and a scale runs
like a river flowing up
from the shadow world
of a low E note
through the sunlight
of octaves reaching skyward
to the pinnacle of high C
where the world swirls
in prism light.
The dog cocks his head
and stares, draws nearer
to this voice
which is both sound and light
and gives off so much
dazzling color
that the only word I can think
to describe it
is diamond—
the gold, blue, green, red,
silvery brilliance
fills the room
and casts amazement
upon the salad, the wine,
the whole blessèd everything.
is the author of the chapbook The Belly Remembers and two full-length volumes of poetry, Wild Domestic and Moraine, all published by Pearl Editions. Her most recent chapbook, On the Fault Line, was released in March by Picture Show Press. Her full-length poetry collection Morpheus Dips His Oar is forthcoming from Sheila-Na-Gig Editions. Her work has appeared in Chiron Review, The Worcester Review, A Year of Being Here, ONE ART, The Writer’s Almanac, and many other publications.
A swimmer, dog lover, and native of the southern California desert, Ms. Madison has recently retired from teaching English and French in a Los Angeles high school. Read more about her at:
https://tamaramadisonpoetry.com
