Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Katherine Gallagher

NOMAD

NOMAD

NOMAD

That year you lost your husband
you wore one brave face after another.
Next thing, you kept changing countries.
Making a fresh start, you called it.

And still each new place sang,
claiming you against the dark.
He would have loved that —
you travelling solo pulled by both worlds.

His voice, breath — hand on your shoulder.
Arms and bodies linked on a bed
that moved like an ocean.
I wondered if you’d break.

Looking closer,
I saw you had broken —
you spent hours skeining days
that were all you had
to line your nomad shelter.
Close

NOMAD

That year you lost your husband
you wore one brave face after another.
Next thing, you kept changing countries.
Making a fresh start, you called it.

And still each new place sang,
claiming you against the dark.
He would have loved that —
you travelling solo pulled by both worlds.

His voice, breath — hand on your shoulder.
Arms and bodies linked on a bed
that moved like an ocean.
I wondered if you’d break.

Looking closer,
I saw you had broken —
you spent hours skeining days
that were all you had
to line your nomad shelter.

NOMAD

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