Susie Meserve
Borealis
Drought-dry afternoon,
just past two,
California sun licking at shadows,
I paused by the door
as the Russians do
to rest on the suitcase, account
for every last thing—
passport, tickets, lipstick,
suppositories, Valium, Prednisone—
before I caught the train,
boarded the plane,
accepted a little bottle of red
from a flight attendant
with a British accent,
and I was dreaming of being at home
with my husband and son,
not on a solo journey to claim
one last embryo from Europe,
when the woman in the middle seat
jostled my arm
and gasped look—
—and out beyond beyond, somewhere
over the Atlantic—Iceland, perhaps—
a shimmering curtain of amethyst,
a lavender downpour, an amaranthine river
glowing from within. Look, we whispered
as the sky swirled, two strangers
leaning foreheads out into the night.
Susie Meserve is a writer, educator, and creative mind-body coach. She is the author of the poetry collection Little Prayers and poems and personal essays that have appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Salon.com, Elle online, the San Francisco Chronicle, and many literary journals and anthologies. Born and raised in New England, Susie now lives with her husband and two kids in northern California, where she is working on a novel.