26 January 2008 | Vol. 7, No. 4
Gone August
…and the trees, and the trees, and the trees and the trees…! Whoo!
– Friends of Distinction
Gone August: blueberries and mayonnaise in the grasses—
Your thermos of Guinness. My chardonnays in the grasses.
Gone crackers and sweet cheeses. Gone melon. Molasses—
Gone mango souari nut-breathed Thursdays in the grasses.
Gone grazin'. You Boch-drunk. Clink of spoons on sunglasses—
Me, girl gone glisterlight. Whitehot malaise in the grasses
Gone soft aspen slantlight that blisters, then passes—
Gone your kisses, O my Clearing! Wildwooded ways in the grasses…
Gone lemon, pistachio. White napkin. Gone lashes—
Gone the longgone gone long game that stays for days in the grasses.
Winter lawn, one leaf whips into sky, then crashes—
I remember the tune of your tongue, praise the Grasses.
The chinchillette broods on small losses, great lapses—
Thimbleberry, going; count to tres in the grasses.
Gone a caught August's almonds. Winters that pass us—
Greet the stupefied Loneliness. Praise that Craze in the Grasses.
About the author:
Rebecca Byrkit lives and writes in Hawaii, where she runs a retreat for writers on the Kona coast. Her poems, short stories, and music reviews have appeared in excellent anthologies (Best American Poetry, Best of Exquisite Corpse) and journals (Ploughshares, Black Warrior Review) for over twenty years. She teaches creative nonfiction writing for ASU Polytechnic.
For further reading:
Browse the contents of 42opus Vol. 7, No. 4, where "Gone August" ran on January 26, 2008. List other work with these same labels: poetry, ghazal, rhyme.
