One Word Poem by Jenny Kalahar

One word comes over me, a solid presence
I feel it in those spaces you've left behind
in the shadow behind the bedroom door
and in the slender crack between tub
and white wooden wall

One word just fits
the aching emptiness of my palm
fits it perfectly and softly
a whispery feather of warmth

The word sweeps around the corner
of the woodshed you would sit beside
snapping beans apart, enjoying the sun.
A snap! of twig somewhere will bring me back
to here, where you are not

The word leaves me lonely, so lonely
but I have memories of you to carry gently
and now I'll write that word I'm left with
will fold the paper carefully in half, and half again
to carry love with me both in my heart and next to it
for the rest of my life,
for each otherwise-wordless day