poem

by Julia Koets

after Jericho Brown

A poem is a measure of the sky

in the distance. A column of rain

in the distance. A column of rain

reminds me of a poet I once loved.

To remember this woman is to love

the seventeen bridges across one river.

The bridges I walked to cross that river

for a month one summer. She took a Czech

language course and learned how to say mouth in Czech.

How the word for it's raining sounds like pushing

in English. One evening the rain pushed

against the tall dormitory where we lived

for just a month. I think of where we lived.

A poem is a measure of the sky.

Julia Koets is the author of The Rib Joint: A Memoir in Essays, a LAMBDA Literary Award finalist, PINE, and Hold Like Owls. She earned her MFA at the University of South Carolina and her PhD in Creative Writing and Literature at the University of Cincinnati. She is an assistant professor of creative nonfiction at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Visit her website: juliakoets.com.