By Valerie Sonnenthal
silencing her words
lips moving
wordless breeze
swallowing syllables
caught like a tumor
growing slowly
her throat aching
hands twisting
body somewhere
dust thickened
eyes blink
between dreams
days
like yesterday
calm carrying on
errands at the market
life a dream
she once was living
thankful
now thick
in the thick
slow stuck time
floating in wait
weighted
by a city
she once knew
Valerie Sonnenthal joined the Cleaveland House Poets when she moved to the Vineyard in 2006. She writes the Chilmark town column, plus arts and lifestyle stories for The MV Times, and publishes the Errata Edition Books on Books series. She can be found cooking, swimming, listening to writers, and walking her dogs when she is not teaching MELT Method or Foot Fitness. She continues her studies in movement, how our feet behave, and any ironic poetic thing.