by Trina Burke  

————
After Andrei Tarkovsky’s film of the same name

The prismatic splay
of sound. A mother
shaves the children’s heads

against nits.
Imminently distracting,
envy smothered in drink—

Severe Lady,
creased-cheeks
cannot quite agree on

the brand of unease
to be bought precious
and treasured. I can’t watch.

Trina Burke is the author of two chapbooks, Great America (Dancing Girl Press, 2011), and Wreck Idyll (Dancing Girl Press). She holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Montana and lives in Seattle.