GUEST AT THE TABLE

I am excited to feature poets from a newly formed writing group. We met at the North Carolina Writers' Network fall conference in a poetry workshop led by NC Poet Laureate Kathryn Stripling Byer. Last Sunday we met in Greensboro, a central location to all. This poem is by Malaika King Albrecht and previously appeared in Pebble Lake Review.

Selling Two Acres on the Rappahannock

You tie the machete around your waist
and climb an oak to chop wild briar down.
With gloves, I tug poison ivy off trunks;
the small white blossoms on the vines
surprise me. As we clear a path
from cabin to river, the rush of water
seems closer, and distance, relative.
At day's end, what was impassable
is a short walk.

At morning, when a breeze blew
our wind chimes, we rose before light
and brewed coffee. Watching steam
rise from my cup towards the dawn star,
I wondered how to divide what was never
enough between us. You yawned, stretched
a hand to rest on my shoulder, unconscious
of touch, as if habits of movement leave last.

Sitting beside each other on the river bank,
we watch the sun descend. We are silent,
meaning every word we do not say.


Malaika King Albrecht has been published in a few literary magazines, including Quarterly West, Exquisite Corpse, and New Orleans Review. Most recently two poems were accepted in the soon to be published book titled Fire in the Womb: Mothers and Creativity. She graduated with a Master's from Old Dominion University. She currently is a stay at home mom with two daughters.

For more poetry by the guest poet go to scrivenerspen.org/Archives/Volume4Issue4/albrecht.asp