Toti O'Brien's poem "Commute"

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 Toti O’Brien is the Italian Accordionist with the Irish Last Name. Born in Rome, living in Los Angeles, she is an artist, musician and dancer. She is the author of Other Maidens (BlazeVOX, 2020), An Alphabet of Birds (Moonrise Press, 2020), In Her Terms (Cholla Needles Press, 2021), Pages of a Broken Diary (Psky’s Porch, 2022) and Alter Alter (Elyssar Press, 2022).




Commute

 


Close your eyes, he said.


She heard smashing of waves


against rock, thumps of hoofs


on pavement, intermittent slash


of the whip and the coachman


clearing his throat at regular


intervals, a deep cavernous


sound. Pulse, pulse, syncopation.


Her own heart, hushed, subdued


clandestine, incognito.


 


Close them tight, he said


then he squeezed her hand.


She saw flashes of bright 


in the dark, phosphorescent


like will o’ the wisps


in a swamp. All you see


he said, will be yours. Their hands


nested like Russian dolls


her fist wraps a negative


shape, a kernel of void.



© 2022 Toti O’Brien







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