from Letters Inscribed in Snow (II)

The story of the absent can be told in many ways. Ask the tulip tree but equally ask the trail of electronic communications, still open in your palm. Ask the invisible.

Ask any stone you encounter on your way. Mother stone, sister stone. Ask your animal familiar. Ask the newspaper. Where has he gone? From a pile of books atop your desk: open any one at random— and ask.

Laynie Browne is the author of ten collections of poetry and two novels. Her most recent collection of poems, Lost Parkour Ps(alms) is out in two editions, one in English, and another in French, from Presses universitaires de Rouen et du Havré (2014). She is a 2014 Pew Fellow. Forthcoming books include Scorpyn Odes (Kore Press) and P R A C T I C E (SplitLevel Texts).