Poem by Kirstin Ruth Bratt

Bridges

Why did you take
pieces?
Why did you take
only should and
breath leave me
alone gasping
in this salty air?
Why won’t you come back?
You
could have taken
me whole
And now you won’t come
The gap over the mountain
moves you
throw one
stone to love one
bridge over sharp places
I would color over darkness the gap
Throw a stone over
Sharp places and into the wind
Water below peace and
Cold to the mountain
Throw caution to the face
Free of me
Never look back

II.

Red mountain blue
romance you took
from me (or I gave
it) like any
good thief took
it free as if I gave
it took

a chance gave
you should and breath
and empty
Over darkness sound
wastes a moment
held in suspension
bridge over
sharp places
love me
throw caution to my face
and the water below

My wandering, your wandering, and what have I done to hurt you?

III.

In the mountain she wants colors over
darkness if gaps move
only one man throw a stone over
mind throw off spines and love her
Bridges over sharp space, over
rails into peace and water
below throw again throw naked
mind wind mind
the man and never
look back she felt
him throw her
caution throw it free
of her, couldn’t face her final
thoughts, makes her choke
on them
He who trusts her his single
fear who wastes
his moment his other
way he who can’t stop her own
self who grew up to forget who
grew up to fear whose fear
makes anxious places who fears for fear
of you who wants you adapt
to his own meaning whose human
impulse up from the frantic
bridge from darkness
No longer she makes
motion of a solid bridge

some lies
some depth
some prone to collapse
whose suspension across truth
whose leaves and branches
who throws it all over the edge

IV.

She wants color on the mountains
darkness if the gap moves and we
cross over the bridge, sharp space he
took from her like a thief who grants
her one chance at complicity
a dive into air before frack
ing her insides, mining her brack
ish waters, a mirror to see
what she’s losing. He knows the crack
in her elegance, in a trance
holds her suspended takes body
breath and soul, a hollow romance.
Eat, drink in remembrance of me
and she wants color, wants him back

Not only you, the part of me
you took. Drink in remembrance
of me
Drowned
drink in remembrance of me. This is my body
eat in remembrance
The romance
of it is one chance how we find one another
you wandering the Black Sea
me on this river
Red mountain blue
romance
and what have I done?

Bound
to notice how you took
breath
breath I needed
breathe without breath
sleep without dreams
I needed what you took
and you took pieces
Even as the bloom soaks the ground
my heart still pumps it only
hurts this much throws his caution free
stays tightly wound
Prone to collapse
under the same weight
throw it over the edge

Kirstin Ruth Bratt is a professor of English and English pedagogy. She loves her sweet and thoughtful children, traveling abroad, the theater of complex and interesting playwrights, and the music of good listeners.

Allison Goldin is an artist living in Cambridge. Her work is a collection of spontaneous drawings from the imagination. The most common link throughout her art are the semi-recognizable creatures scattered amongst and bringing together the surrounding doodles. She is currently studying Illustration at The School of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.