Saudade by Erika L. Sánchez

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend April 10, 2017   Saudade   Erika L. Sánchez

In the republic of flowers I studied the secrets of hanging clothes I didn't know if it was raining or someone was frying eggs I held the skulls of words that mean nothing you left between the hour of the ox and the hour of the rat I heard the sound of two braids I watched it rain through a mirror am I asking to be spared or am I asking to be spread your body smelled like cathedrals and I kept your photo in a bottle of mezcal semen-salt wolf's teeth you should have touched my eyes until they blistered kissed the skin of my instep for thousands of years sealed honey never spoils won't crystallize I saw myself snapping a swan's neck I needed to air out my eyes the droplets on a spiderweb and the grace they held who gave me permission to be this person to drag my misfortune on this leash made of gold            Copyright © 2017 Erika L. Sánchez. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "The poem began during a trip to Portugal, where I became enamored with the traditional fado music. They say saudade is untranslatable, but it's a word that feels like an old familiar cloak to me, because I've spent so much of my life ravenous for both the past and future." —Erika L. Sánchez   Erika L. Sánchez is the author of Lessons on Expulsion, forthcoming in 2017 from Graywolf Press. She is a 2017-2019 Princeton Arts Fellow. Poetry by Sánchez   Lessons on Expulsion (Graywolf Press, 2017) "Change of Address" by Deborah Paredez "You Are a Dark Body" by Natalie Scenters-Zapico "A Taste of Blue" by Cynthia Manick Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. If you enjoy Poem-a-Day, please consider making a donation to help make it possible. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038

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