Igor Monsellato

After.
A swallow of water.
Drops on the kitchen tile.
Light in the eyes.
A train passing—
steel against steel.

 

…………

 

Dark room.
A face lit by a phone.
Voices through the wall.
The ceiling lower than before.
Children shouting in the courtyard.

 

…………..

 

Feed.
Necks bent forward.
Shoulders folding inward.
Blue light on skin.
Traffic sliding by.
No one looking up.

 

………..

 

Suspension.
A thin white line across the sky.
A streetlamp holding the pavement still.
Cars pass.
You don’t.

 

……………

 

 

 

Burn.
A log splitting in flame.
A fuse catching.
Crowd noise rising.
A shot in the dark.
Fireworks—
or something else.

 

Previously appeared in Apple Valley Review

 

Igor Monsellato is an Italian poet and surgical oncologist. He is the author of several poetry collections in Italian, including Trilogia di una trasformazione and Fragmentaria. His most recent collection, Amoralia, is forthcoming in Italy.