Paula Bonnell
In the Middle of the Night
. You come knocking at the door – disastrous
and insistent as waves bombarding the window.
. You come in, dripping broken ice and glass
on the rug.
. What do you want anyhow?
. I can’t give you what you want. I won’t give
you what I’ve got. You’ll just have to get out.
. As you stand there dripping and the shards
you’ve shaken off melt, I see your redhot core of
affection.
. But it’s nothing I’d care to touch.
About the writer:
Paula Bonnell’s poems have appeared in APR, The Hudson Review, Rattle, and dozens more, nationally and internationally, and won awards from Kalliope, Negative Capability, New England Poetry Club, Chester H. Jones Foundation, and the City of Boston. Her 2017 chapbook tales retold follows three collections: Airs & Voices, selected by Mark Jarman for a Ciardi Prize; Before the Alphabet, a kindergarten story; and Message, a debut including “Midwest” as heard on The Writer’s Almanac, and “Eurydice,” chosen by Albert Goldbarth for a Poet Lore publication award. Bonnell, a PEN New England Discovery writer has also published fiction, essays, and book reviews.
Image: Photo by Almos Bechtold on Unsplash.
