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C.N.P Poetry 

Writer's pictureCathexis Northwest Press

Litany of Grief

By: Lee Landau


[ the poet consoles herself]



All night I wept

tears searing my face—

not the body,

not sleep interfered.

“Not the dog licking my mouth,”

nothing stopped me. Nothing

could stop me.

And still I cried, coughed up

a wild heartache. Lush screams

hollowed out the day


All the next night my cries deafened

ears. Screams burned through layers of oxygen;

my eyes never stilled, never rested.

I wept

saddled with waves of sadness,

bed my only asylum.


Face crumbled

like the tissues clutched in my hand,

while the clock struck forty-eight hours.


Even in broken

skeins of sleep my eyes

filled with tears—Grief

Part of a spillway

sluicing wounded crystal-cut

eyes


Nothing could stop me

sadness defined

home




 

Lee Landau based in sunny florida uses the precision of words to convey the substance of imagery that drives her poetry. She deals with human issues. Lee is currently working on a book length manuscript of her poetry. She has been a finalist in four poetry contests. Workshops with Tom Lux, Sharon Olds, Jude Nutter, Dana Weir and Billy Collins influence her work.

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