street empty, hedge uneven and unkempt
sidewalk broken with dandelions, wild
strawberries. Walking barefoot
into broken glass, blood between my toes
on my mother’s street. Backseat window
broken, hand luggage stolen: three passports
around $ 500 in euros and a book I love
signed by the author. Thief took
a minute and we didn’t hear
a sound sitting in the kitchen facing
the street, the street of my mother,
her blood in mine, and days, weeks
spent to visit the Swedish police
in my hometown, the American embassy
in Copenhagen, friendly huge bouncers
smiling, and the dirty passport office
in Buffalo NY. I am surprised at how
quickly my bloody toes healed.
Swedish-born Gunilla Theander Kester, Ph.D. is the author and editor of six books in three genres, including her full-length poetry book If I Were More Like Myself. In the last two years, she has written and published over 40 poems in various literary magazines, including The American Journal of Poetry, The Citron Review, Pirene’s Fountain, Pangyrus, and Potomac Review. Her new book-length poetry collection, Hold Me Still, is looking for a publisher. She was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize in poetry.
Image: “Chained Gate to the Ocean” by Laura Knowlton
Pine Hills Review 