Incantation
By Helena Mesa
Not even flight patterns offer certainty tonight. Which words will bring you beside me tonight? The plane trembles over your state line. Mountains, plains—how do I map our geography tonight? Rain ferries across your streets, inverts the stars. Nearly asleep, I know snow muffles my eaves tonight. Once, we lived together—our time marked by a season, a plan. Why think of that lease tonight? Extrañar, to miss, as in, extraño tu voz en la mañana. Me extraña, as in, how odd your voice feels tonight. You say planes are also arrivals. Why is there always a suitcase half-packed? Forgive my defeat tonight. These nights, these archipelagos of words: Say skin, breath, tongue—say Helena, here, tonight.
Helena Mesa is the author of Where Land Is Indistinguishable from Sea (forthcoming from Terrapin Press) and Horse Dance Underwater, and is an editor for Mentor & Muse: Essays from Poets to Poets. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
9/6 / Meet the Artist with visiting poet-in-residence Felicia Zamora / The Library at The Betsy-South Beach, Miami Beach, FL / Live and Live-Streamed on Instagram Live/Facebook Live at @swwimmiami / 6:00 pm EST / Free
9/6 / Poetry Reading with visiting poet-in-residence Felicia Zamora and local poet Lolita Stewart-White / The Library at The Betsy-South Beach, Miami Beach, FL / Live and Live-Streamed on Instagram Live/Facebook Live at @swwimmiami / 7:30 pm EST / Free
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This is absolutely beautiful, Helena. Felt every word.