Poetry Showcase Award submission
Tilt
Your fine blond hair
falls on the back of my hand
like splinters of light
or sand bleached by two summers’ sun
or specks of gold glitter.
As I tilt your head
back towards my chest
the trimmings slip
from my wrist to the floor
to be swept away.
In shifting your familiar weight
on my knees,
a tiny strand finds its way to my mouth;
I push it to my lips
and lick it to my thumb.
Depending on how I look at it,
this residual shard
is a selfish “I,” a hurried dash—
the first stroke of a kiss.
Lee Nash lives in France and freelances as an editor and proofreader. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in print and online journals in the UK, the US, and France, including Ambit; Angle; Ink, Sweat and Tears; Mezzo Cammin; Orbis; Poetry Salzburg Review; Sentinel Literary Quarterly; the French Literary Review; the Interpreter’s House; the Lake; and the World Haiku Review. You can find a selection of her poems on her website, leenashpoetry.com.