Letting

Sepia-toned photo of flowers on tree branches spread far apart. Raindrops cling to a spiderweb spun between the tree branches.

the tongue’s the last to dim
fretful and liquoring
the nose gives up
sheets laundered by strangers
the chemical painkiller
now I love the dust
without worry

after years of fighting
it back let it go on
the spiders and mice
let the hems fall
the dogs run
the children doze in dirty clothes
let it go let my eyes

fade my ears cease shut
down the measuring
the mind a catalog of
what you did what I did
how good things tasted
sometimes how we understood
at the same time together

BY Nancy White

Nancy White’s work appears in journals such as FIELD, Ploughshares, and New Letters. Her three poetry collections are Sun, Moon, Salt (winner of the Washington Prize), Detour, and Ask Again Later. She teaches at SUNY Adirondack and serves as president of The Word Works in Washington, D.C.

Letting

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