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Live Encounters Poetry & Writing September 2023
The Visit, poems by Alicia Viguer-Espert.
The Visit
From the gate I notice flying seagulls,
cascading jasmine leaning on cold stones
of names, dates, and inscriptions.
My eye catches a silhouette in blue,
she returns the look from her twenty years
of distance; still so beautiful!
Nearby, parallel lines of turquoise give solidity to water,
melancholy and bougainvillea trickles from rod iron balconies,
I walk the path to meet her.
I cannot forgive how her cruel departure broke my step,
collapsed my place in the world,
still, tenderness floods through me remembering
our strolls by the sea, passing sails in front of our window,
sharp cypresses puncturing the lucent sky,
nightingales’ conversations in the Botanical Gardens.
As the sting of memory stabs my side
I drag my feet all the way to the stone carved with her name,
Waking Up
I woke up to empty glasses, a blanket
wrapped around my chest, a written note.
Behind the open window a single star watched
half hidden from the crescent moon.
A solitary bird sang desperation
in its unrequited calling.
I remember a storm of blood pulsating,
kisses exchanged, your hand on my thigh
silently burning, tangerine flames
before stars opened their blinking eyes.
In my head a storm is brewing dark like coffee,
the forest, blue a few hours ago, erased
with the grayish fog of departure.
Your shoes, which always gave me hope, gone.
© Alicia Viguer-Espert
Alicia Viguer-Espert, born and raised in the Mediterranean city of Valencia, Spain, lives in Los Angeles. A three times Pushcart nominee, she has been a featured poet at numerous venues within the greater LA. Her work has been published in Lummox Anthologies, Altadena Poetry Review, ZZyZx, Panoply, Rhyvers, River Paw Press, Amethyst Review, Odyseey.pm, and Live Encounters among others. Her chapbooks To Hold a Hummingbird, Out of the Blue Womb of the Sea and 4 in 1, focus on nature, identity, language, home, and soul. In addition to national and international publications, she is included in “Top 39 L.A. Poets of 2017,” “Ten Poets to Watch on 2018,” and “Bards of Southern California: Top 30 poets,” by Spectrum.
Lovely and haunting.