Pamplemousse

The Student Literary Journal of Vermont State University

Sheet

Poetry

What contains
and cancels

            the strange, still body.

Veil, shroud, shred.

Drape the mirrors
so you will not see

            your seeing,

so form disappears.

Pain of plain linen.

Your eyes closed.
(My eyes closed.)

Cool cheek down
on the page (sheet),

            color of a blizzard.

You will end all
of your days here

(I will end all
of my days here)

in this blinding god-
forsaken field.

HADARA BAR-NADAV is the author of Lullaby (with Exit Sign), awarded the Saturnalia Books Poetry Prize; The Frame Called Ruin, Runner Up for the Green Rose Prize; and A Glass of Milk to Kiss Goodnight, awarded the Margie Book Prize. She is also the author of two chapbooks, Fountain and Furnace, awarded the Sunken Garden Prize, and Show Me Yours, awarded the Midwest Poets Series Prize. In addition, she is co-author of the best-selling textbook Writing Poems, 8th ed. Recent awards include the Lynda Hull Memorial Poetry Prize from Crazyhorse and fellowships from the Vermont Studio Center and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Hadara is currently Associate Professor of English at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.