Frank Carellini

My lover in Hanoi

 
My lover in Hanoi
left me
a string
She said hold onto this end…
I’ll be at the other

There is a bowl and I try to fill it
but the still life remains a half-sad tomb of
plums—

On a shore, a man bends to lift a five pound bag of rice
On another shore:
a woman bends to bank a five pound bag of sand against the coming storm

Which weighs more?

Previously published in Hobart, Apricity Magazine, and other gracious journals, Frank Carellini primarily focuses on poetry.