I Want You Here

Mayor

Indya Kincannon
[email protected]
(865) 215-2040

400 Main St., Room 691
Knoxville, TN 37902

Last item for navigation
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share via Email
Marilyn Kallet was honored by the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts as one of of the "Women Artists of Influence" on May 2, 2019. She read this poem for the event.

By Marilyn Kallet


I Want You Here

So badly my fingertips ache
roses droop against the thorns

the green light of the Garonne 
stuns my eyes

I talk to dogs   to my chair
listen at the neighbor’s door

The old stones of the village are too smooth
The stubble of your chin would do 

I want you here so badly
I can taste your salt

I’ll find a place or two for your mouth
listen hard to your tongue 

we’ll coo like mad doves
become ballads   legends

climb to the centre ville 
devour the first May cherries

pilgrims 
at home in each other

beneath the blue sheet 
of sky.


From the book The Love That Moves Me, Black Widow Press, 2013