Harpy
Valentina Cano
I wanted to wind my voice up
into a ball of string,
or yarn,
of every color, twisting on the floor,
wanting to be touched, knotted,
made into something warm.
Later,
I wanted to grant you
this reprieve.
Gift you a tear made of glass
that would allow you to sleep at night.
But my voice becomes a wave instead,
swallowing the sheets, the pillows, you.
No longer warm, it grows, bloats
until there is no room.
None left between the screams.
I wanted to wind my voice up
into a ball of string,
or yarn,
of every color, twisting on the floor,
wanting to be touched, knotted,
made into something warm.
Later,
I wanted to grant you
this reprieve.
Gift you a tear made of glass
that would allow you to sleep at night.
But my voice becomes a wave instead,
swallowing the sheets, the pillows, you.
No longer warm, it grows, bloats
until there is no room.
None left between the screams.
Listen to Valentina read the poem here:
About the author
Valentina Cano is a student of classical singing who spends whatever free time she has either writing or reading. Her works have appeared in Exercise Bowler, Blinking Cursor, Theory Train, Cartier Street Press, Berg Gasse 19, Precious Metals, A Handful of Dust, The Scarlet Sound, The Adroit Journal, Perceptions Literary Magazine, Welcome to Wherever, The Corner Club Press, Death Rattle, Danse Macabre, Subliminal Interiors, Generations Literary Journal, A Narrow Fellow, Super Poetry Highway, Stream Press, Stone Telling, Popshot, Golden Sparrow Literary Review, Rem Magazine, Structo, The 22 Magazine, The Black Fox Literary Magazine, Niteblade, Tuck Magazine, Ontologica, Congruent Spaces Magazine, Pipe Dream, Decades Review, Anatomy, Lowestof Chronicle, Muddy River Poetry Review, Lady Ink Magazine, Spark Anthology, Awaken Consciousness Magazine, Vine Leaves Literary Magazine, Avalon Literary Review, Caduceus,White Masquerade Anthology, and Perhaps I'm Wrong About the World.
Her poetry has been nominated for Best of the Web and the Pushcart Prize. You can learn more about her here.
Her poetry has been nominated for Best of the Web and the Pushcart Prize. You can learn more about her here.