Tonight I Wish Of
by Karla Linn Merrifield
the taste of that hurricane season
of the ten-thousand thoughts
of wishful thinking that is
of thee
of thy brain and
of leaning over in this poem welcoming you
of salt from your fluid body on my lips
of electrolytes delivered to my tongue
of Beaufort-12 velocity
of lashing me vigorously limp
of humbled pose in the eye—
of deceptive calm—then you, you
of, oh, tumultuous thrashing
of muscles
of my well-toned pelvic floor, but also
of my heart as organ, also fit, and
of my heart, love’s metaphor, imperiled
then of warbler song lovely and lilting,
whistling again and again:
you, insistent for me to listen—
sing to me as you pass through me, all
of me, my ten-thousand thoughts
of wishful thinking
we could be anything
Karla Linn Merrifield has had 1000+ poems appear in dozens of journals and anthologies. She has 15 books to her credit. Following her 2018 Psyche’s Scroll (Poetry Box Select) is the full-length book Athabaskan Fractal: Poems of the Far North from Cirque Press. Her newest poetry collection, My Body the Guitar, recently nominated for the National Book Award, was inspired by famous guitarists and their guitars and published in December 2021 by Before Your Quiet Eyes Publications Holograph Series (Rochester, NY). She is a frequent contributor to The Songs of Eretz Poetry Review. Web site: https://www.karlalinnmerrifield.org/; blog at https://karlalinnmerrifeld.wordpress.com/; Tweet @LinnMerrifiel; https://www.facebook.com/karlalinn.merrifield.
Red Wolf Journal 