Seam

By Flynn O’Brien

scuffle of
                   ears perk/

 hands that make you grateful for air
folding the universe into the gravity they make
                                pouring the tea
                                              cutting a soft piece of lemon cake
                   smoothing pages in a book
sacred fading parchment

words surface delicate as minnows
                each a chorus of consonants
                                                 riffling the heart
                                   Ss patter like rain on pines
                    Bs as smooth as pistachio shells
Ts that tell you this moment alone you need

to be this
               but until then
                            to be around
                                            take shade in a presence
                relax in the music of simple sounds and gestures
                                                            deliberately placed 

like the sandalwood and cedar making her bones
                the forest wind across her vocal cords
                                 the softly cooing doves that live in her hand

Flynn O’Brien is a poet who lives in Portland, ME. O’Brien’s poetry collection, Cast (with drawings by Mary Hart) was published in 2022 by Elsewhere Press.