The closest we can come
to the unseen
plumes of scent
spun by a spindle
gland dispersed
as soundless cloud
fading to flutter
final pinprick
is
how we hold
the vanished
face awhile in mind
and then the brush
of shadow cheek
to cheek to final
phantasy—
rising
from the table
at his return.
Current
Susan Barba is a poet whose debut Fair Sun won the Anahid Literary Award for emerging Armenian-American writers. She is a senior editor with New York Review Books.
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