~ Delta Poetry Review ~

Beth Gylys

Another Day Waves

The day Humberto installs my frameless shower doors

the day, on a visit for treatment, my brother-in-law goes into liver failure

the day we hash out the students to admit with funding

the day machines beep my brother-in-law alive

the day I thank-you text the contractor on the plane who recommended Humberto

the day a 40-mile convoy of Russian tanks stalls near Kyiv

the day M. asks for the name and email of a student from class

the day my sister-in-law finally has time to take a shower

the day my friend D. cries reading a tribute essay

the day three children die of shrapnel wounds

the day machines beep my brother-in-law alive

the frameless glass doors look like something out of a magazine

I am thinking about the women holding their babies. I am thinking about the holding, the

river, the many unshaven men in fatigues

57 degrees, sunny, the trees—stalwart soldiers—sun strafing their branches

And S. has submitted two poems about sexual abuse

I am thinking about tongues, how they violate the mouth with their thick want

And T. has submitted two poems about fights with his wife

I am thinking about husbands and wives, machines that keep working until they don’t

the day I reread P.’s story about a musician working at Burger King

the day snow, the day hunger, the day Crush by Richard Siken, the day I will have dinner with

friends after two years of not

I am thinking about marriage—how we meld/melt into each other—years of bodies

turning like logs beside one another in the bed, in the silence, in the world

Beth Gylys is an award-winning author and the founder/Principal Investigator of Beyond Bars, a Mellon-sponsored literary journal for incarcerated writers and artists. Beth Gylys is the author of five books of poetry—the last two, The Conversation Turns to Wide Mouth Jars and Sky Blue Enough to Drink, were both named Books All Georgians Should Read. Her work has recently appeared in West Branch, The James Dickey Review, and on the Best American Poetry blog.