READ A POEM
ALONG STORM DRAINS
by Zenaida Smith
For Erin
It is noon and a group of children
Walking with their mommy spot
Two others of a separate party
Across the street and
It is four in the morning the night prior
I know you are reading me
Over a glass of rosé coupled with my
Five cigarettes, the clock
Is ticking down on the final
Minutes pushed back
And you wonder what wonder
I’ll be inspired to kill and taxidermy
On the page, in Chicago
And I wonder too, what wonder
Will happen to faint at my feet, what
Wonder will be sought out and seduced by me
What introspective sentence might
Bare knuckle box me
In the unforeseen moments expressly transported
By that which bears us on old sentiments
Like ships downing canals of new
Words, new tastes, new
Coffee cups, and their first introduction
To my lipstick
What could match it, though?
Your bare feet in the middle of Lorain Avenue
Walking in the rivers made up
For our enjoyment in a split second
Off your tongue, encouraging
The orange encompassing of street lamps
Casting a sordid spotlight on your heels as you walk
To your car, as those children meet
Not over ten, any of them
At noon on a Sunday
On the corner of 80th and Detroit
Like church but
In joy, there is no beautiful moment
That can eclipse a beautiful moment
“Along Storm Drains” by Zenaida Smith, from Siding With Desire. Outlandish Press, 2018. Used by permission of the author.
Zenaida Smith has been writing poetry for five years too long. She is the author of several unmentionable works, the most recent of which is
Siding With Desire from Outlandish Press. Poetry is the fabric of her world, and it is very itchy. You can find more of her work on
Instagram.
WRITE A POEM
Take a famous line and rewrite it with the opposite of each word in the line. Then write a poem with the new line. For example, “Because I could not stop for death” might become “Notwithstanding you could begin past life.” Stuck? Try, “My life had stood a loaded gun.”