Jennifer Compton
Past Midnight In Another Country
She stumbled, and reached out for the rough wall.
It may have been the tepid Ligurian wine
that tasted of last season's apples, and olive oil.
It had stunned her, as if it was not wine at all
but a numbing agent, at blood temperature.
The steps were made for the feet of ancestors.
Maybe she is deceived by tricky, disassociated
angles. And the weeds grew where they pleased.
It may have been because her chin was elevated
like a child who will not cry, no matter what.
She searches for her way down the alley, under a dull moon.
A sudden, crazy spot of fluorescent green swims through the air.
It flits, and pauses, hovers, like an intimation of retinal damage.
With a slow finger of apprehension she finds the word. "Firefly!"
The lucciola - firefly! - quivers and flings itself over the high wall.
Page(s) 17
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