Revolution

Cheryl Dumesnil

^{Nahr al-Bared, 2007}

After a night of mortar fire,
in the first light, her father drags

a hose across his yard, to water
the plum saplings he planted

last month. Half a world away,
crepe myrtles outside her home

blaze, impotent red blooms.
When she phones, he will talk

only about the plums, how
sweet they will taste, sliced

and salted, on his favorite plate.

Good Morning Heartache

That bastard sun rises again, dissolving
the only good dream I’ve had all year.

My waking mind feels for hope, blind
reach for eyeglasses on the nightstand

or an oxygen regulator fallen
from my mouth to the ocean floor.

Across town, my friend can’t lift her head
off her pillow, the chemo eating her

platelets and maybe the tumor, while
in my kitchen, the coffee timer clicks on,

French Roast draining into the carafe.
On the news, a Somali mother searches

Cheryl Dumesnil

2016

The Flock

That there are too many birds—I know this already.
But the buckshot-pierced dove’s open mouth

echoed my lover’s sleep-slackened jaw, so I
covered its body with leaves and swore off

my rifle forever. And if I decided love was possible
because her eyelashes iridesced like peacock feathers,

so be it. If a house sparrow arrives on my sill,
sprig of language pinched in her beak, who am I

to tell her no? The first time I saw the plastic owl
perched on my San Francisco rooftop, I circled

Cheryl Dumesnil

2016

Prayer for Sleep

The chiropractor sent me home
     with my left ankle taped, my neck
          cracked, and instructions not to sleep

on my belly, so when it came time
     for bed, I dropped a tequila shot,
          laid back and closed my lids, entrails

exposed to vultures of bad dreams.
     From the neighboring pillow,
          my love whispered theories

of meditation, biofeedback, post-
     traumatic stress, and prayer.

Cheryl Dumesnil

2010

Poems

Revolution

More by this poet

Good Morning Heartache

The Flock

Prayer for Sleep

Poems

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Revolution

More by this poet

Good Morning Heartache

The Flock

Prayer for Sleep

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