National Poetry Month : natalie hanna,

washing

in spite of all the damage I've done

to the peaceful night

with my feet on the wooden boardwalk

i hope you will forgive me wanting

someone to hear

if only fish through the lapping waves

that might repeat my message

i would have cried the town

with songs of deep affliction

but it's late and impolite

to bother people in their houses

despite the calamity of affection

that woke me

with dreams of the place

we fall down gently

into the arms of great loves

there's still, indelible, a codex in the hands

full of turning apple cheeks

salted skin

the tang of lipstcked cigarettes -

and if kiss will ever be again

i'll make each one

the cure for exhaustion

ignore my text till morning but

i want to know when you listen

to those albums we used to share

that you remember the grammar

of sighs and stillness

lifting us from common speech

maybe the cipher will be lost

but when we leave, know

that the manner of our going

cannot diminish the legends

of our greatness

i don't know if love is catching

of if you can wash it away

but if we are met tomorrow

with radio silence

please remember i love you

until further notice

natalie hanna is an Ottawa lawyer working with low income populations. Her writing focusses on feminist, political, and personal themes. She was a past Administrative Director of the Sawdust Reading Series and past board member of Arc Poetry Magazine (2016-2018). She is the author of ten chapbooks, including three with above/ground press, with an 11th forthcoming from Baseline Press in the Fall of 2020. Her poetry, interviews and commentary have appeared in print and online in Canada and the U.S. Her poem “light conversation” received Honourable Mention in ARC Magazine’s 2019 – Diana Brebner Prize. For more information, find her at: https://nhannawriting.wordpress.com