Making It Right
I heard your horizon promises,
took the risk, left my husband
that long May – your call,
my response now inked
in poems and songs, relics
of a star-swept history.
It is not history like army
squadrons warring
or marching homeward,
charcoal shadows backlit
by pinkish sky. Or maybe it is.
Perhaps it is just as important
to leave candles on sills
lighting avenues home,
to sing lullabies of return.
What I’ve lied about …
what you’ve lied about …
insignificant as thumbnails.
I follow the legend
on the map to everywhere
you are. You follow me home.
Amanda J. Bradley has published three poetry collections with New York Quarterly Books: Queen Kong, Oz at Night, and Hints and Allegations. Her fiction, essays, and poems have appeared widely in various anthologies and literary magazines, including Paterson Literary Review, Chiron Review, Rattle, The New York Quarterly, and Gargoyle. She is a graduate of the MFA program at The New School and holds a PhD in English and American Literature from Washington University in St. Louis. She lives in Indianapolis. For additional information, visit www.amandajbradley.com.
