playing me on this empty house morning
all the windows blinds wide open
not one tree not blooming
and the light this time of year
the quality of which the quality of which
as if making it through the day isn’t enough
and now you and that voice
asking how long since I doused myself and lit a match
how long since I fueled the God furnace
for desire is and we are
this ceaseless call to temple
a blue physics splitting us atom by blue atom
crazy light that won’t go out yes
king queen ruler of everything smashed
and carefully taped back together
see what you’ve done
Valencia Robin is a poet, visual artist and arts professional who recently completed her MFA in poetry at the University of Virginia. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Triquarterly, The Petersburg Review, Black Renaissance Noire, Serendipity, the Cortland Review, Mead Magazine, Clover and the Follow the Thread Poetry Anthology. She is a Cave Canem Fellow and the 2014 winner of the Hocking Hills Poetry Festival Competition. She lives in Charlottesville, Virginia and teaches at the University of Virginia as a third-year post-MFA fellow.
