The Brooklyn Rail

APRIL 2022

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APRIL 2022 Issue
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Dreamlike
(Homo Bulla)


We walk close together and you tell me you’ve been spitting up blood.
“How so? Since when?” I grip your forearm more tightly.
“But you should”
(stop spitting up blood?)
I once believed
(when I was a little girl? until a moment ago?)
that thought could be focused
into a bubble of health
(of love, just love)
smash it where it hurts, where the pain is
pop it and heal it
(yes, come on, let’s try that right now)
“But you should try.”
Then we break apart, a sentence stuck in my head:
I leave you at dawn in the city that smells of ethylene.
(has it got to do with chemistry poison cancer?)
But before this (or is it right after?)
we are (I am you no longer are)
in the temple and my voice is steady:
Alberto
Alberto
Berto
Alberto


It’s you.
The bubble of your name
that explodes in our ears.

Contributor

Laura Liberale

Laura Liberale has a degree in Philosophy, a PhD in Indological Studies and a Master's Degree in Death Studies & the End of Life. Her books include Tanatoparty (Meridiano Zero, 2009), Madreferro (Perdisa Pop, 2012), Planctus (Meridiano Zero, 2014), and the poetic collections Sari - poems for the daughter (d'If, 2009), Ballabile terreo (d'If, 2011, Mazzacurati-Russo 2011 award), The availability of our meat (Oèdipus, 2017, Lorenzo Montano award 2017, 2nd place ex aequo Anna Osti Award 2017).

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The Brooklyn Rail

APRIL 2022

All Issues