Among the Nouns at the Apocalypse

Poetry
Written By Hannah Bonner

Starlight and empty sidewalks, closed storefronts and cicadas,      
                         when did I first define solitude as standing adjacent to objects 

without touching? The streetlamps sputter Luna moths akimbo,
                         a frantic arousal, their rinse of wings.

If no one arrives, I’ll stay anyways, among the nouns, and their qualifiers,
                         breathing into my flushed fingers, my fragrant hands. 

In a clemency of wild air my body bristles like an orchard cast in color, cleft through
                         with want.

 
Hannah Bonner

Hannah Bonner's poems have appeared, or are forthcoming, in Asheville Poetry Review, Pigeon Pages, Rattle, Schlag, So to Speak, The Hopkins Review, The LaHave Review, The North Carolina Literary Review, The Pinch Journal, The Vassar Review, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, TriQuarterly, and Two Peach. Her essays have been featured in Bright Wall/Dark Room, Bustle, Essay Daily, The Little Patuxent Review, and VIDA. She is a creative nonfiction MFA candidate at The University of Iowa and the poetry editor at Brink.

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