by Kurt Olsson
Say Talaq for Me
After the Russian folk song “Миленький ты мой”(“My Darling”)
May your nipples grow weedy
as a lunatic’s beard.
May the windows in your house
gape like the evil eye.
May life become a scripture
desecrated of all sense.
Oh, my darling, take me with you.
There in a distant country I’ll be your wife.
May the lessons of Monday
be forgotten Friday.
May your songs taste
of strangulation and ash.
May nightfall be a walking wound
for which there is no end.
Like the cheap man of your proverbs,
may you always pay twice.
Oh, my darling, take me with you.
There in a distant country I’ll be your sister.
May your carpets turn ruthless tyrants,
your mountains counterfeit and cold.
May your lovers lose themselves
in the muddy byways of your heart.
May the shadows of your children
grow the talons our children did not.
Oh, my darling, take me with you.
There in a distant country I’ll be your stranger.
Poet Kurt Olsson has published two award-winning poetry collections, Burning Down Disneyland (Gunpowder Press) and What Kills What Kills Us (Silverfish Review Press). His third collection, The Unnumbered Anniversaries, is due out later this year from Fernwood Press. Olsson’s poems have appeared in many journals, including Poetry, The New Republic, Southern Review, and The Threepenny Review.
Artist Stephen Hawks, a ceramic and 2D artist, poet, and educator, was Resident Potter at Westville for 19 years. He earned an MFA in Ceramics and Intermedia at FSU and has taught college art since 2010. Formerly at UTRGV, he is returning to Georgia to focus on his independent studio practice.
Gulf Stream Magazine 