“Reading Among the Ruins,” by Lauren K. Alleyne – Michigan Quarterly Review

“Reading Among the Ruins,” by Lauren K. Alleyne

Poetry by Lauren K. Alleyne from our Fall 2016 issue.


In the temple’s farthest corner
an olive tree stands,

silver-green leaves like a shawl,
its trunk braided

down into the ancient earth:
You are witnessed by it.

A boat hums by, and the fisherman
waves.

An ocean opens within you,
makes your body a shore

upon which memory crashes—
returning, returning.

You feel the walls in you becoming
ruins, holy and broken.

In the sky, a solitary cloud.
You give your words to the wind.


Purchase MQR 55:4 (Fall 2016) for $7, or consider taking out a one-year subscription for $25.

Image: Art and Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. “Vue d’Acropole–Athenes.” New York Public Library Digital Collections. 

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