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In My Life
Melanie Perish

I could live listening to the Beatles,
still fishing, trail hikes,
snowshoes clamped on could
carry me into February fields.

I could live alone or with you,
grow blue potatoes, cut kindling,
tie flies while you find the best maps.
You are flesh and seasons

and baritone eyes. We nap, breaths even,
wake with words, without words.
Under a light quilt, yes, look at us
undeniably here.

We are old and I could be living now
thinking of death as butterflies or mercy
while you do not think of death at all, talk
with your son. Our bodies promise

surprise: a night with little sleep and still
radiant the next day. An unchartered
fall without fracture. The red taste
of tomatoes, garden grown, roasted at high heat.

The heart’s eye, John Lennon, the soul’s
conference call with saints
all guide me. I could live —
my bare feet in your naked hands.

—
Melanie Perish’s poems have appeared in Sequestrum, Third Street Review, Calyx, Sinister Wisdom, The Meadow, Persimmon Tree, and other publications. Nevada Humanities has featured her work in two websites: Nevadan to Nevadan (2022) and Double Down Blog (2024). Passions & Gratitudes (Black Rock Press, 2011) and The Fishing Poems (Meridian Press, 2016) are recent. Foreign Voices, Native Tongues (Blurb/Single Wing Press) was released January 2021. She is grateful for the generosity of other poets.

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