THREE POEMS | EMILY HOCKADAY
Dream of Labor
You are lifted from me: whole,
adult, small but well formed. From
my repose, the movement of the stars
is imperceptible to the eye, but the camera
catches the Earth’s spin; each star
a parallel streak. You also spin, out
of reach but parallel. Not getting further
from me, but staying the same number
of years removed. Time mutes
everything. I have watched myself
come and go. I am cleft.
The Ghost Is Back
We know the ghost is back
when we see the pool of water
coming from under the counter
and we hear the mourning dove at our window at midnight.
It is something we expected—
we greet the ghost
with resigned silence.
We say nothing to each other.
We discuss the weather,
check the baby’s head for supernatural heat;
I place the back of my finger behind her ear,
because nothing can reassure me.
At night our ankles touch under the sheets;
the air is alive. When I look at your eyes in the dark,
they are wet reflective surfaces—I see the ghost there.
I know you are seeing the same thing in mine.
The Ghost Knows
The ghost knows it is my fault, but still
Enters my dreams as my mother,
Saying, “this isn’t your fault.”
I am looking for someone in a crowd,
And when it has dispersed, I can’t remember
Who I lost in it. Backs are moving away from me
In all directions. No one
Faces me. I wake to the sound
Of the mourning doves, and this time, actually,
It is morning. The baby is awake but entertaining
Herself in the crib. Sometimes over the baby monitor
I see the ghost. Something is out of place. The baby turns
And looks right at the camera, babbling.
Emily Hockaday is a Queens-based poet and editor. Her newest chapbook, Beach Vocabulary, is forthcoming from Red Bird Chaps. She is author of Space on Earth (Grey Book Press), Ophelia: A Botanist's Guide (Zoo Cake Press), What We Love & Will Not Give Up (Dancing Girl Press), and Starting a Life (Finishing Line Press). Her poems have appeared in numerous journals, most recently Newtown Literary, The Maine Review, and Salt Hill. She is Associate Editor of Analog Science Fiction & Fact and Asimov's Science Fiction, and she can be found on the web at www.emilyhockaday.com and @E_Hockaday.
Cover image by Zachary Schomburg: photos of walls in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, an area that is very flat. The horizon lines on theses walls mimic that flat horizon line on its landscape.
