Other Voices Magazine

The Monthlies

Winner March 2010

“Later he stood on the foredune’s lip and looked at the stars over the ocean. A wider life breathed in him, and things’ rims stirred and reared back. Only the lover sees what is real, he thought. Only the lover sees the beloved truly, inwardly. Far from being blind, love alone can see.” – Annie Dillard, The Maytrees

First Sight
By: Kara Thordarson

he holds his arms out when he dances, feeling waves
of water, of joy, he is a sailor

poetry is supposed to capture delicacies beyond prose
our body sound

the smile I couldn’t stop started in the space between blood vessels
the distance between stars

until our undertows gathered
wrenched my shoulder blades

through my ribs and rips on him
his pointed kindness saw me

I learned the terror of another’s glimpse
because we cannot forgive in ignorance

an apology writhed from me, written for him
water is the language he recognizes

so I gave up my words
fell back on hard kisses, tear blots on sleeves
knee-crooks on hips and pulled hair

in the silence before the crest
where souls become and bloom
we do not fear being seen

Kara Thordarson was born in Red Deer and moved to Edmonton to study philosophy. She recently decided to give in to her dreams of writing and has become fascinated and inspired by Edmonton’s local literary community.

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