Erica ANZALONE earned her BFA in Writing, Literature and Publishing at Emerson College, where she studied under Bill Knott. Her work has appeared in Poetry Motel and The Emerson Review.

CATASTROPHE MUSIC

Why waste what dignity remains on song
when like fugitives we kneel before the pulse

of succulent engines in the vineyard of wing-
beat of empty hands, desires, loose

heat of plenty, unfulfilled, seeking still
in afternoon caesura? Why conjure a circle

or let the arms of night enfold us until
nacreous, somnolent we confess: the soul

has strayed too far. Why sing at all
my love, my love, my love, my love, my love,

while our poverty like a chasm deepens and we fall
and so falling, die? Against me splintering why move?

Your mouth answers the only way it knows how:
a single kiss, no words except for now.

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