15 October 2007 | Vol. 7, No. 3
One Season Arrives
Baby paces my heart significantly closer
to the clock.
Morning light watches her grow.
Each season, she slips
out of her bed and onto the wooden floor
with different determination.
I catch it all in my arms until they overflow
while morning keeps
returning.
Light, seasons, clocks
and my daughterÂ’s feet—more: her smiles,
her busy mind, her body, her face—all held.
Dizzying. I could only look it
straight in the eye
and continue.
Gradually, one season arrives
that marks her time
to leave. As simple as that.
I press my hands against an invisible wall.
On the other side, flashes of her—there—six again,
and twelve, twenty-one, eight, two, seventeen her!
pulling all her faces in one face.
About the author:
Karen Neuberg's work has appeared in literature journals such as Barrow Street, Columbia Poetry Review, Elixir, Diner, and Phoebe, and online in Shampoo, DIAGRAM, Can We Have Our Ball Back?, Toasted-Cheese, and others. She holds an MFA from the New School. One of her poems recently received a Pushcart nomination.
For further reading:
Browse the contents of 42opus Vol. 7, No. 3, where "One Season Arrives" ran on October 15, 2007. List other work with these same labels: poetry.
