Tuesday poem #452 : Natalie Jane Edson : I HAD A DREAM THAT YOU DIED WHILE I SLEPT NEXT TO YOU

 

in this pearl-sized room
on the soft mattress

in this sand and concrete
this beige blur

i find rest within my resting
in an old friend’s bed

when I wake up to the dim
and grainy morning

his body is still warm
he embraces himself

like a flowerbud
and when I wake up again

i’m small and careless
in my white sheets

wilted as old rose petals
in the unrelenting sun

 

 

Natalie Jane Edson is a queer poet and computer programmer based in Portland, Oregon. She has a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Oregon and approaches her work with the interdisciplinary in mind. Her artistic practice centers around process—a mix of algorithm, iteration, divination and letting the subconscious mind speak for itself. She published a chapbook, BALACLAVA, in June 2019 and is currently working on her debut full-length manuscript.

the Tuesday poem is curated by rob mclennan