(Author’s note: “Keske,” translated from Turkish, means, “If only/ I wish.”)
she—returns
sole swallow
another
point of origin : f/1.4
half
pine peaks broken rock face light gathered area
south Mediterranean
at midday : wide blue lens
refracts full —she— relative brightness
quickens —keşke— vast field of view
open cave : mouth
—she— releases breath filtered
frame azure evergreen eye—
f/2
—light pulls taut
to mount— Olympos
at 2 o’clock still
sun —she— burns
body’s cruel remnants—
remember : April in July Eliot—
fragments rock
ruin sleeping
jungle cat sound sea
stretched : now
silent : now blue—
f/2.8
—light reflections float
4 o’clock calm
here : no call no voice
collects
small stones
waves wind —salt spray—
pages
turn
to present in absent
form
— she— ripples
the surface—
f/4
—light gathers length to
dragonspine diameter
mountain
sun slips 6 o’clock
sea softens south—
Cyprus : Kyrenia, Nicosia—
close—
point of other
origin
her salt licked skin
shuttered around this
tightening circle—
f/5.6
vined terrace—frame
green—as decreasing
luminescence
8 o’clock
shades she— eats patlican—
shrinks time
slows
—heart— opens
so let so
much moon
rising
f/8
red
half drunk
—she—
sky
lit
star—
Jennifer Andrea Reimer’s first book of prose poetry, The Rainy Season Diaries, was publishes by Quale Press in 2013. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in: Our Stories, The Denver Quarterly, The Berkeley Poetry Review, The Chaffey Review, 580 Split, Tinfish, Puerto del Sol, Weave, Zoland, 14 Hills, Gyroscope, and Glass. She has an MFA in Writing from the University of San Francisco and a PhD in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley. She is the co-founder and co-editor of Achiote Press. She currently lives and works in Ankara, Turkey, where she is an assistant professor of American Culture and Literature.