So that She Might Sing

in the wind
there is a whisper
a lament for rain

I hear her in the field
behind my grandparents’ house
where dust swirls
a shroud

I hear her in my mother’s garden
no weeds to pull
no strawberries to eat in secret
dirt wiped away with eager fingers

I hear her in my car
her sorrow a wail
as I sail past cattle grazing
grass that will not grow back
to feed them again

at night
I stand outside
listen to her words
as she mourns
rivers running dry
forests burning

she whispers her grief
with parched throat
swollen tongue

no cool drink
to moisten her mouth
so that she might sing

~ Angela Kublik

Angela Kublik is an Edmonton based writer whose poetry has appeared in The Prairie Journal, Legacy, and FreeFall, as well as online at DailyHaiku.Org. She edits blueskiespoetry.ca, an online journal that provides a forum for emerging and established poets. She is also the co-founder/publisher of House of Blue Skies, Alberta’s newest micropublisher, and co-editor of two poetry anthologies, Writing the Land: Alberta through its Poets and Home and Away: Alberta’s Finest Poets Muse on the Meaning of Home, with Dymphny Dronyk.

Read Angela Kublik’s poetry:
New Year
Summer Away
Fire Tower on Nose Mountain
After School
If I Must Leave

Leave a Reply