Poetry | Autumn 2022

Poem for the

Purple Adobe House

by Meg Rumsey-Lasersohn

Oh sister of mine

hiding how many rooms

I imagine you

prism threaded on fishing line

in every window

someday I will enter through the

side gate

a persimmon in each palm

peace offering to the future

silent sibling painted sentinel

how rich the soil under your lintels

how cool and dark your wine cellars

how riotous your heliotrope

I pass by again the patient steps of ritual

waiting for your quiet welcome

the day when the door swings

wide

and the threshold beats like a heart under my feet

I go to sleep with persimmons in my hands

smooth golden promises of our

unborn bond