Votive<\/p>\n
The wicks are electric
\nin Iglesia San Dominic.<\/p>\n
Sear of filament in glass:
\ntiny coal, a forty-watt<\/p>\n
star. None of your cathedral
\nglitter, clutter of light<\/p>\n
on the paving, this grid
\nof switches, little<\/p>\n
circuit timed to twenty-nine
\nminutes and after, nothing<\/p>\n
whiskered with soot. No remnant
\nbut the afterburn, blue<\/p>\n
on the dark globes
\nof your eyelids. Some<\/p>\n
things in life are not meant
\nfor such precision\u2014the snug<\/p>\n
dovetail of your joined hands;
\nthe bent maple outside<\/p>\n
my window, aflame
\nwith leaf, its sheath<\/p>\n
of frost; flickered
\napproximation of star\u2014that dark<\/p>\n
voice, and our reciprocal
\nlights. Trace elements<\/p>\n
in smoke, fine blue
\nstrands that rise, streak<\/p>\n
the marbled mouth of a saint.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Votive” is reprinted from Lacemakers<\/em> (Southern Illinois University Press, 2012)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Claire McQuerry’s<\/a> first collection, Lacemakers,<\/em><\/a> was winner of the \u00a0Crab Orchard Prize and published in 2012 by Southern Illinois University Press. She is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Missouri, where she serves as the Contest Editor for The Missouri Review. <\/em><\/a>Her poems have appeared in Mid-American Review, American Literary Review, Western Humanities Review, Louisville Review, Los Angeles Review, <\/em>and others. She lives in Richland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Votive The wicks are electric in Iglesia San Dominic. Sear of filament in glass: tiny coal, a forty-watt star. None of your cathedral glitter, clutter of light on the paving, this grid of switches, little circuit timed to twenty-nine minutes … Continue reading