Some Words I Love and Their Strange Power

by

Lisa Zimmerman

 

           —“But it’s the words that sing”—Pablo Neruda

 

I love the low tenor of darkness, deep shade,
the thorn inside sorrow, piercing
the heart, how it draws blood.
But I think I want everything to be
about gratitude, that three-legged stool
I step on to rise above rage—a word
with questionable purpose, but so rich,
so crushing, always unwieldy, intent
on combustion—and yet how
I imagine gratefulness, that it might
lift me from my bleak worldview
to a silky place, safe, luminous, moon-laced,
grand as the heady breath of night
with its gorgeous overture,
its many hidden secrets.

Lisa Zimmerman’s poems and short stories have appeared in many journals, including Poet Lore, Cave Wall, Ghost Parachute, Cultural Daily, and Vox Populi. Her poems have been nominated for Best of the Net, The Orison Anthology, five times for the Pushcart Prize, and included in the 2020 Best Small Fictions anthology. Her poetry collections include How the Garden Looks from Here (winner of the Violet Reed Haas Award), The Light at the Edge of Everything (Anhinga Press) and Sainted (both from Main Street Rag). She’s a Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Northern Colorado.