Patrycja Humienik 's Aubade in Which I Linger

Aubade in Which I Linger

Night slips from my vision grainy
as we make our way up the dirt path.

I let myself be held by sandstone
harboring a prehistoric sea.

Dryness tunnels my nostrils,
could clear every longing from me,

if I were as mutable and eager to be changed
as I say. There are days I beg to be left,

to see what I’ve been withholding.
Night knows I’m unlikely to leave first.

In florid glow, lulled to an almost-sleep,
the stirring morning sifts me.

Patrycja Humienik, daughter of Polish immigrants, is a writer, editor, and teaching artist based in Seattle, Washington. Her poetry is featured/ forthcoming in Waxwing, Ninth Letter, TriQuarterly, Southeast Review, Passages North, Poetry Northwest, Palette Poetry, and elsewhere. She is working on her first book of poems, Anchor Baby. Find Patrycja on twitter @jej_sen.