The Other City

// Laurinda Lind

From a green afternoon of rain
I thought I woke to the light
inside my eyes, like a head full of hammers
flying off in all directions.

But I dreamed I kissed the husband
of a close friend, that we started
downstairs again in his house and he said,
There will be bad gossip.

Still, I went out into the town,
I waited for the air to clear.
It was a city of sculptors and while I was there
I could make anything out of stone,

starting with when I woke and touched
my own husband to see if I still wanted
to, and I did, and found a real day of falling
water. I am setting this down fast

while I still remember how it was
to keep a secret life upstairs
inside, but then to say so. See it burst out
to a world built only of words.