poem
A Fleck of Golden Hair
Fell from the ceiling, or it rose
on the buoy of wind that lifts you
weightless in this sea of gravity,
lifts you from an unknown world
removed from pain—though it’s pain
that finally drove you here.
Outside, crows continue to redress
your grief and your separation,
a cattle drive across the silver-lit sky,
this black cloud of beating pageantry.
And if it weren’t for the tiny wisp
of sun-swept hair exalted in its glow—
sleep would have overtaken you,
a last play for self-induced anesthesia.
In another place, in another time,
worlds formed and broke apart,
energy swirled and dissipated,
the long, cool dust of stars condensing,
but still bending light, as if to bear
the weight of the entire universe.
Edward Nudelman's poetry collections include OUT OF TIME, RUNNING (Harbor Mountain Press, 2014); WHAT LOOKS LIKE AN ELEPHANT (2011, Lummox Press), Second Place for Indie Lit Awards Book of the Year; and NIGHT FIRES (2009, Pudding House Press), semifinalist for the OSU Press Journal Award. Over 100 of Nudelman’s poems have appeared in journals, including: Rattle, Cortland Review, 2River, Valparaiso Review, Chiron Review, Evergreen Review, PoetsArtists, Ampersand, Syntax, The Atlanta Review, Mipoesias, Plainsongs, Floating Bridge Press, and The Penwood Review. A recently retired cancer research scientist with over 80 published papers in top tier cancer journals, Nudelman continues to own and operate a rare bookshop in Seattle, which he founded in 1980.