She is the gnarled paper crushed at the bottom of a bag
that once held something, a list, a draft, that was important.
Smudged with ink stains, what might have been coffee,
scribbled corrections, an unidentifiable stain, torn edges,
blotches, the writing lacks a Rosetta Stone to decipher.
Someone flicks on a classical radio station.
The strains of Tchaikovsky’s 'The Sleeping Beauty' begin,
the iPod can't replicate the expanse of an orchestra.
But something flickers, a corner unwraps, the paper ball
unfolds, stops mid-gesture like a stylus overcoming a scratch,
continues with a calligraphic flourish, words form a poem's lines
although some words are still obliterated and grease spots
prevent their replacement or new words being added,
she remembers her carriage, how she was once as pristine
as snow, flexible as a new sheet, ready to receive and interpret.
A conduit for impressions, strokes of a story. A hand,
that can no longer grip a pen, returns to her lap. She curls
back into the crumpled paper crushed at the bottom of a bag.
Emma Lee’s publications include “The Significance of a Dress” (Arachne, 2020) and "Ghosts in the Desert" (IDP, 2015). She co-edited “Over Land, Over Sea,” (Five Leaves, 2015), reviews for magazines and blogs at https://emmalee1.wordpress.com.