by Magdalena Ball

Lost
within the pores between
movement and concentration
infiltration a chainful of rattling
keys with no locks
the horizon drops
to shallow
saline.

Knowing nothing
nagging my side
a memory of skin
against skin
wet laughter
cracks to silence
the steel edge of
remorse.

Later
still drifting
chemistry fog
drips slow hope
intercepts and transpires.

When all is lost
a fear shift’s inflation
open drains, siphons
takes you somewhere
found
salted
with fire, dissolved to
penetrate.

Magdalena Ball runs The Compulsive Reader. She is the author of the poetry books Repulsion Thrust and Quark Soup, the novels Black Cow and Sleep Before Evening, a nonfiction book The Art of Assessment, and, in collaboration with Carolyn Howard-Johnson, Deeper Into the Pond, Blooming Red, Cherished Pulse, She Wore Emerald Then, and Imagining the Future. She also runs a radio show, The Compulsive Reader Talks. Find out more about Magdalena at http://www.magdalenaball.com