Tilt


Tilt

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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.


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