With a Line
By Norma Cole
measure how silence
sits on the ground
the same rills, clay tablets,
gravel and stones, frozen
moments measure displacement
consequence the records of
common consent, displacement
sugar pills killing time now or
how the most euphonious cadence
a reed stylus, rosewater and
mint, the slope, distortion
meaning stay safe, tenderness
the fleeting constraints, sites
of conscription expanding
meeting control at the site
of precipitous inquiry
could it take the weight of
a frozen moment
Copyright Credit: Norma Cole, "With a Line" from Alibi Lullaby. Copyright © 2025 by Norma Cole. Reprinted by permission of Omnidawn Publishing.
Source: Alibi Lullaby (Omnidawn Publishing, 2025)