SLACK by Alisa Velaj

In a surfeit of air and light, this tree

by the river flush with crystal waters, has been craving for a season of revitalization                            

ever with the same fervor!

Like scared grasshoppers,                                                                                                                               

winter and fall come and go on its branches,                                                                                            

creeping like shadows on towering mansions 
that have for a roof a star-studded sky!

Rot, likewise,                                                                                                                                         

creeps into the backbone of the surfeited tree                                                                                                 

and keeps its secrets in the dark,                                                                                                                 

like a snuffed candle...  

 

Alisa Velaj was born in 1982 in Albania. She has been shortlisted for the Erbacce-Press Poetry Award in 2014. Her works have appeared in more than 100 print and online international magazines. Her poetry collection, With No Sweat At All, will be published by Cervana Barva Press in 2019.