Laura Peña

 The following two poems are centos inspired by lines from Yusef Komunyakaa and Mark Doty.

Raw Elements

After Yusef Komunyakaa

Everything stopped, a laugh bitten in half.
I stumbled down the stairs as if to the hereafter.

Some hard questions wound the air.
Something has gone wrong.

I hold you against me
But nothing works.

A bone inside me whispers,
Maybe tonight

I can’t say for how long
I was moored between worlds –

In this glacial quiet
Nothing moves –

The Future is Nothing

After Mark Doty

Look, Love,
The lost
World rises

Nothing to do
But watch the pity
and terror

We love disasters
That have nothing
To do with us

You had a thousand years to live
And ornaments to distract
Your mind from Love

What binds us to one
Another also sets us apart