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poetry pRO     Here in the Afterlife
Daniel Thomas Moran, Integral & CLP

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   Marina Sánchez (biog)
   Kay Syrad
   Elisabeth Rowe (poems)
   Mary Robinson (biog)
   John Gilham

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featured poet – Anne Stewart


Anne Stewart

the streets so quiet now

instead of a visit, I am standing in the kitchen
phone in one hand cheery teacup in the other
listening to my friend
 
                                        and taking a mental snap
as the final brushstroke of the artwork
framed in the window through the lace-patterned net
with its curvy pleats rolling along nicely
falls into place
 
                             where a black cat with white cheeks
has parked in front of the nearside front wheel
of the bright blue Corsa in the driveway
watching across the street as though
anything might happen any minute now
and across the street
 
                                     framed in his window
a tall man holding a long glass caught
in mid-sweep down to the sofa holds still
to watch the cat watching across the street
as though anything might happen
any minute now and I am watching
and listening knowing
 
                                         the boy from three doors down
coming home on his scooter will frighten the cat
who will scoot behind the Corsa and duck away
under next door’s fence into the alley
 
                                                         and the tall man
with the long glass will resume his sweep down
onto the sofa and now
 
                             the boy has shot through
the frame and I am listening and watching
the empty street just as though
any minute now…
 

Anne Stewart

first published in The Frogmore Papers, 2021;
in collection any minute now / în orice clipă, Eng/Rom, 2023, Eikon (Bucharest),
ISBN 978-606-49-0916-9;