Kendra Tanacea
Finding Values for the Unknown
The crows argue overhead.
Who will I kiss first?
Is anything worthwhile anymore ÷ 50 days.
Will today be the last day I do x?
Seeds thrown high in the air = wildflowers
Here come the wild plums.
The reliable trees I can’t name.
We sing alone x 20 small screens = chorus
Two sopranos = the Flower Duet
Good morning/morning glory.
Blue trumpets skyward.
How I miss doing x!
How far away is the last breath?
If x is time and y is speed, how far away is my hand from your thigh?
What’s the distance between what we want and what we have?
Do you feel this pull?
But what if earth doesn’t want us?
What if it wants fire, new growth?
What will our lives look like in one year, in x years?
I will miss x.
Can I solve this without doing more damage?
Laurie Anderson says let x = x.
Cause I can see the future and it’s a place
about 70 miles east of here. Where it’s lighter—
About the writer:
Kendra Tanacea, attorney, holds a BA in English from Wellesley College and an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College. Her first collection of poetry, If You’re Lucky Nobody Gets Hurt, was a finalist for the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize. A Filament Burns in Blue Degrees, published by Lost Horse Press, was a finalist for the Idaho Prize for Poetry. Kendra’s poems have appeared in Rattle, North American Review and Poet Lore, among others.
Image: Way– Trajectory of Moving by Marta Shmatava (1965-). Oil on canvas. 80 x 100 cm. 2015. By free license.
