Viola Lee graduated from New York University with a M.F.A. in
poetry. Her recent poems have appeared in Alice Blue, Pebble Lake Review, cake train, and
Phoebe. Her chapbook, Another Word for Dialogue, was a finalist with honorable mention in Kundiman's Vincent Chin Chapbook Prize. Viola has poems forthcoming in
Apt. magazine and KNOCK journal. She lives in Chicago with her husband.
Conversation with Objects
there are so many things here
that will be forgotten come winter
so many things that will be forgotten
things like bra on yellow bench
or even watch on the wooden nightstand
all these plain objects
that we are slowly leaving behind
there are so many things that remind me
of spaces that need forgetting
so many things like the heat of that summer
where things outgrew themselves
where even showers tasted of metal
where there was no way
of escaping that body clinging to this body
there are days where my body feels inanimate
feels like bottle hairbrush night stand
there are
so many things here that are inanimate
this is a comb this is her hair
this is the comb she uses
to comb her hair
this is his spoon this is his body this is the spoon
he uses to nourish his body
this is a stone this is a hand
this is the stone
he nervously clenches with his hand
all of this will be forgotten
come
colder days when no one is out
and
the only things that echo
are the streets without their lights
