Light, what will remain of my body, talks

by Shannon Elizabeth Hardwick

Light, what will remain of my body, talks
about You. It keeps saying,

learn each other–Today
I asked a stranger

if she was like me, did she
speak into a tape recorder

love-notes to herself to keep
from diving, driving, into

the shale-pain of road.
When she answered, Yes–

Light, the earth, let me
live on the ground again.

–Read at St. Lydia’s on June 16 and 17, 2013