Skip to main content
Poets.org

mobileMenu

  • Poems
  • Poets
  • Poem-a-Day
  • National Poetry Month
  • Materials for Teachers
  • Literary Seminars
  • American Poets Magazine

Main navigation

  • Poets.org
  • Academy of American Poets
  • National Poetry Month
  • American Poets Magazine

User account menu

  • Log in
  • Membership
  • Donate
Donate
Poets.org

2024 Jean Meyer Aloe Poetry Prize

Page submenu block

  • find poems
  • find poets
  • poem-a-day
  • literary seminars
  • materials for teachers
  • poetry near you

Love Poem

by Lila Bonow

 

After months away, I come home  to visit   my  husband,   and   the  house replays       its       choreography     of asphyxiation                                        We  go  to  a   small   theater  where  we watch The Stepfather, our tilted faces  shrouded in filmic glow                           It’s  a  synthesized   slasher   starring Terry    O’   Quinn,   and    he   too   is desperate,  a  man  who  wants  only a perfect family to love                       But   becomes  so   disillusioned  with their   deviations,  their  animus,  that he  slaughters  them  like  a reluctant god eliminating errant lambs               Afterwards, we  return  to  the  house, move    through    the    dark    to    the bedroom     I’ve    fashioned   into   his forsaken pasture–                                 My absence  abrading   his sleep, our distance   devouring   like  the  bright void   that  swallows  the  stars  upon night’s parting                                      We  turn to each  other’s  bodies, his heavy  hand   weighing   on my  collar bone. And   perhaps   because  I  lack another image of God                          I  cannot  stop   picturing,  as  hands rake  over  my  flesh,  the  face  of  a father who  loves  his family  enough to cut them down                               

 



back to University & College Poetry Prizes

Newsletter Sign Up

Support Us

  • Become a Member
  • Donate Now
  • Get Involved
  • Make a Bequest
  • Advertise with Us

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • SoundCloud
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Footer

  • poets.org

    • Find Poems
    • Find Poets
    • Poetry Near You
    • Jobs for Poets
    • Literary Seminars
    • Privacy Policy
    • Press Center
    • Advertise

  • academy of american poets

    • About Us
    • Programs
    • Prizes
    • First Book Award
    • James Laughlin Award
    • Ambroggio Prize
    • Chancellors
    • Staff

  • national poetry month

    • Poetry & the Creative Mind
    • Dear Poet Project
    • Poster
    • 30 Ways to Celebrate
    • Sponsorship

  • american poets

    • Books Noted
    • Essays
    • Advertise
© Academy of American Poets, 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038
poets .org