Rachel Wetzsteon
Time Pieces
Eden time
They spent every day,
blissfully ignorant, in
amourous delay.
Temp time
Will I be alive
when the twelve-headed jailer
announces it's five?
In a parched time
Clouds make this appeal:
the more you wait, the wetter
the water will feel.
Intermission time
Guilty admission:
this plunge from art to life's a
painful transition.
Sleep time
Quick nap—but it seemed
an ocean of joys, a sea
of griefs that I dreamed.
Reunion time
Days passed like drugged snails.
I met you at the station,
laughed at their faint trails.
Just give it time
Though I frankly feel
better, there's nothing sadder
than starting to heal.
Retronym time
Cheering: it was done.
But soon the Great War would be
renamed World War One.
Lately I haven't had the easiest time
Overcathexis
has me asking clouds if they
know where my ex is.
The Marschallin returns for the third and final time
Ja, ja, so it goes:
I've got memories, but she's
got the silver rose.
Ahab time
Though I do not thrive,
I confess I've never felt
so purely alive.
You get lucky from time to time
Once, in a mad rush,
I painted a blizzard that
blew away my brush.
Rachel Wetzsteon, Silver Roses, Persea, 2010.