A Crystallization of Water and Light
Right now I’m walking slowly
across snowy sidewalk—
the kiss of my boot
to salt like crackling
shorthand for tenderness.
Why is it always
a mother behind the poet
combing her damp hair?
Like small bulbs
aloft in bare
trees twine into lopsided
globes, she’s adorned
in the space between
where branches unfurl.
Right now dusk softens
the mucky exhaust
clinging at the edges
of the curb. It will remain
and double and double
like nested layers
of a tiered cake.
It is too simple to say
my mother never liked me
enough to skim
bristles at my nape.
A waxing then waning
of her to me
ad nauseam.
The sun will return
at its appointed hour.
The snow melts
and accumulates over.
Right now I’m trying to remember
what hangs the stars—
amidst us, they
become insignificant
Lucia LoTempio is the author of Hot with the Bad Things (Alice James Books, 2020). With Suzannah Russ Spaar, she co-authored the chapbook Undone in Scarlet (Tammy, 2019). She is an Editor of Poetry for The Offing, serves on the Editorial Board for Alice James Books, and has a day job in arts education. Lucia lives and writes in Buffalo, NY. Lucia graduated from SUNY Geneseo in 2015, and while there served as a poetry editor and then managing editor for Gandy Dancer. She even gave a first go at laying out the magazine’s website! Her time on Gandy Dancer influenced her greatly as it kindled her love for collaborative literary magazine work, and gave her practical skills of layout design and how to manage author-editor relationships. It also gave her the opportunity to learn how to present at and attend professional conferences. A favorite poem she published was “The Charadriiform on Matters of State” by Erin Koehler in issue 3.1. Lucia loved her time on Gandy Dancer, and is lucky to still be friends and collaborators with fellow masthead members today! She would like to offer much gratitude and flowers to Rachel Hall for all she has done for the English department, Gandy Dancer, and all students who have received the gift of being taught by her!!