Laura Donnelly
A Brief History of Time
In the first instance
hard tongues of hostas
poke through debris.
Matted oak leaves,
bent knees.
In the second, a house
performs a blue aria.
In the first instance,
lilacs bloom
velvet tabs, a lace
pinafore, a promise.
Let the solstice do its work,
thighs damp when we rise.
Let us measure it not
by the end.
To know the mind of God –
The house, its
glorious windows
and lungs envelop
the rising scent.
Laura Donnelly’s first collection of poetry, Watershed, won the 2013 Cider Press Review Editors’ Prize, and her recent work has appeared in Passages North, Indiana Review, and as the Poem-a-Day feature at Poets.org. Her second book manuscript, Midwestern Gothic, has been a finalist for the Brittingham and Pollak Prizes and the Poets Out Loud Prize, and a semi-finalist for the Philip Levine and Perugia Prizes. She teaches at SUNY Oswego and lives in upstate New York.
Return to March 2018 Edition
In the first instance
hard tongues of hostas
poke through debris.
Matted oak leaves,
bent knees.
In the second, a house
performs a blue aria.
In the first instance,
lilacs bloom
velvet tabs, a lace
pinafore, a promise.
Let the solstice do its work,
thighs damp when we rise.
Let us measure it not
by the end.
To know the mind of God –
The house, its
glorious windows
and lungs envelop
the rising scent.
Laura Donnelly’s first collection of poetry, Watershed, won the 2013 Cider Press Review Editors’ Prize, and her recent work has appeared in Passages North, Indiana Review, and as the Poem-a-Day feature at Poets.org. Her second book manuscript, Midwestern Gothic, has been a finalist for the Brittingham and Pollak Prizes and the Poets Out Loud Prize, and a semi-finalist for the Philip Levine and Perugia Prizes. She teaches at SUNY Oswego and lives in upstate New York.
Return to March 2018 Edition