Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Katherine Gallagher

FOR JULIEN AT SIX WEEKS

FOR JULIEN AT SIX WEEKS

FOR JULIEN AT SIX WEEKS

Already
you have taken the world
by your fingertips
small hands closing on
grapes of air,
first fruits that you touch
and hold at arm’s length
to choose and choose again.

Soon you will learn
how days are layered with secrets,
how the sun always combs back
its fields of light,
how the wind unveils its colours.

You have all the time you want —
a careful mime
rehearsing routines
as old as the eye.
Close

FOR JULIEN AT SIX WEEKS

Already
you have taken the world
by your fingertips
small hands closing on
grapes of air,
first fruits that you touch
and hold at arm’s length
to choose and choose again.

Soon you will learn
how days are layered with secrets,
how the sun always combs back
its fields of light,
how the wind unveils its colours.

You have all the time you want —
a careful mime
rehearsing routines
as old as the eye.

FOR JULIEN AT SIX WEEKS

Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère