Letitia Trent

IN A FIELD

I'm standing at the mouth
     of a clearing, hands
held out to catch him
     he's running toward me
I'm good news, sweet milk
     the word in his mouth
every morning, the first, the first
     like water to the animal
who breathes it, remember
     when it was like this, later,
when I'm in my blue room

writing something in small hand
     I have my body, I have my mind back
still, I want him calling
     that first name, and to feel the tug
and flow again, the ache like
     a new love, new love back
when I thought all I wanted was
     to get over the heat of being
so exposed, then later
     when it settled, I went right back and
read those old letters over and over, then
     this thought: I was my best self
I was alive then

Letitia Trent's work has appeared in journals such as 32 Poems, Fence, and Menacing Hedge. Her poetry collections include One Perfect Bird (Sundress Publications) and the chapbooks You aren't in this movie and The Women in Charge from dancing girl press.