Homesick Revisited
Courtney Harler
I wait out your absence
Like a cough or spring flu
Or salmonella hatching
In a sun-risen egg yolk
I am not just the bed
Grown cold in the day
Nor the stars pricked
Darker before they fall
I mourn the heat of you
Ever-patient and trapped
In the open center of me
Awake with the light sung
I rankle with sweat as the
Wrong spice of tea bleeds
Through cracked teeth and
Mouth splintered on wine
I am thawed and collected
Into an illness long-pooled
Both buttoned and feverish
Against the next slow return
###
Courtney Harler lives, writes, and teaches in Las Vegas, Nevada. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Sierra Nevada College, where she received the Two Pines Award for Outstanding Creative Work. She has been honored to receive additional support from Writing By Writers, the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley, and the Nevada Arts Council. A full list of Courtney's publications and awards can be found at courtneyharler.wordpress.com.
I wait out your absence
Like a cough or spring flu
Or salmonella hatching
In a sun-risen egg yolk
I am not just the bed
Grown cold in the day
Nor the stars pricked
Darker before they fall
I mourn the heat of you
Ever-patient and trapped
In the open center of me
Awake with the light sung
I rankle with sweat as the
Wrong spice of tea bleeds
Through cracked teeth and
Mouth splintered on wine
I am thawed and collected
Into an illness long-pooled
Both buttoned and feverish
Against the next slow return
###
Courtney Harler lives, writes, and teaches in Las Vegas, Nevada. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Sierra Nevada College, where she received the Two Pines Award for Outstanding Creative Work. She has been honored to receive additional support from Writing By Writers, the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley, and the Nevada Arts Council. A full list of Courtney's publications and awards can be found at courtneyharler.wordpress.com.
