Laure-Anne+Bosselaar

Lexi Hackerman

Laure-Anne Bosselaar (1943-present) From Beligum, France, Laure-Anne Bosselaar is a very well-known poet. She has studied four languages and has published two in flemish and french. In 1987 was a big transition for her. That was when she moved to the United States. She has been awarded a Fellowship at the Breadloaf Writers' Conference and was a Writer in Residence at Hamilton College and the Vermont Studio Center. She teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and the University of Southern Maine, as well as leading poetry workshops at writers' conferences across the country. As well as writing poems, Laure-Anne speaks poems and is known for her poetic voice. Currently, she lives in New York City with her husband who is also a poet.

**AT DAWN**

 Crows—their constant  beak-clicking, triple-beat squawks.

 My love as he sighs, stirs,  weighs a wrist or knee on me,

 then sinks back, coiled  into the thick flesh of sleep.

 The coffeemaker's chokes,  the garbage truck's brake-squeaks.

 Last night's sweet crumbs  of dried-out apricot pie.

 Then—light: how it creeps  down night's taut rope, lands,

 aslant, on the kitchen counter <span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> to shellac two clementines

<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> shrinking in a chipped bowl. <span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> I take note, write it down: crows' scorn,

<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> love's weight, street sounds— <span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> tastes, colors, death, charms

<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> crammed into a fraction of dawn: <span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> all of this—already gone.

<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> **FOR MY SON**

<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> I sit against the scarred trunk of an oak. <span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> The sun barely winnows through its branches.

<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> Beyond a lit spot small as a newborn's fist, <span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> a twig quivers, then arcs toward light.

<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> What caused such languid inclination <span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> makes its way down the leaf: a tiny snail,

<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> gold as corn. For an instant, they sway, <span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> lit, in utter balance—then, in a deep bow,

<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> the leaf releases its weight onto earth and curls <span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> back into the shade—the vitreous path

<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> of that moment now in its center. Mathieu, <span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> if nature's cruelties know no limits,

<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> neither do the boundaries of its grace. <span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;"> I give thanks for you.