Winner of The Letter Review Prize for Poetry
Rondo
My friend finds God in unexpected places.
We are in the woods the first time she tells me:
rain drumming gentle on the leaves, we stand without umbrellas or coats
at the side of the slow-flowing stream, sing songs in hesitant harmony,
and speak. She says, I think that moments like this are what God is.
I shrug and wish I had her certainty, wonder at a kind of faith I have never understood.
It may not be God, I say, but it is beautiful.
I think they are the same, she tells me.
Years later, I pace in my kitchen and tell her of an argument I’ve had
with a no-longer acquaintance, bemoan the misunderstanding,
mourn that I cannot make people listen, say without saying what we both already know
of hatred. She nods, and asks if I have any apples to eat.
I cut an apple into eight slices, and she takes the plate,
drizzles honey and sprinkles cinnamon over the sections,
tells me, try it now.
I take a bite and taste nostalgia for a thousand things I’ve never known,
let the sweetness linger on my tongue, close my eyes,
let my friend’s voice ground me, let myself grow calmer,
wonder which of my murdered ancestors performed the same steps
of this old dance.
Who can say?
We wander through uncertain times;
the ground beneath us groans in warning.
Who has the time to find God in times like these,
who has the safety to search when we must flee with our eyes over our shoulders?
But there are moments of peace –
my oldest friend makes brisket,
my sister’s cat blinks slow at flickering candles,
I sing songs in resurrected tongues and feel at home.
It may not be God, but it is beautiful.
Alyssa Salzberg is a writer and translator currently pursuing a PhD in French at Trinity College Dublin. Originally from Baltimore, Alyssa has been writing since childhood, and got her English BA from Mount Holyoke College, where she was co-president of the poetry club for several years. She then moved to Ireland to study translation, which has led her to her current studies in French Surrealist literature. She has previously been published as a contributor to the poetry translation anthology ’19 Ways of Looking at Awono’ by Georgina Collins. Her poetry contains recurring themes of isolation, longing, and mental health, and her biggest inspiration as a poet is W. H. Auden.