Sharon White
from Drush
Drush
small, worthless fragments; fine rain
The titles of the poems are taken from Shetland Words: A dictionary of the Shetland dialect. Alastair and Adaline Christie-Johnson
Jappi
Even if you thought it was
true, it wasn’t
was it?
cliffs scarred with
lichen, ice blue
lips of the bay
even wanting it to be true
won’t do it
will it?
just wave your hand for me
Yarmer
Once again the dishwasher
is empty
the knives and forks alone
once again a man coughs
another laughs
the dog with the brown and white face
barks
all for naught
the tethered minutes rain down
constant, gentle, silver
Yarta
To swim in
and out
as in love
away, the whole
river empty
this morning
even though
bushes blaze
and the mockingbird
tries all his tricks
Irp
Were you gone
by the time I got
there?
A sip of death
in the shower
there was nothing
they could do
the pinch of each
minute and then the long
corridor
Anunder
Thee to whom it
may concern—famish
furnish asunder
the gale winds
snow slope
escarpment
even if you don’t
want to it might
give you celebration
Glossary
jappi — a hen (a cheeping jabbering creature).
yarmer — a cat.
yarta — properly, the heart, now a term of endearment; child of my heart.
irp — to complain incessantly; to harp on.
anunder — under.
Sharon White
Sharon White’s book Vanished Gardens: Finding Nature in Philadelphia won the AWP award in creative nonfiction. Boiling Lake (On Voyage), a collection of very short fiction, is her most recent work. She is also the author of two collections of poetry, Eve & Her Apple and Bone House. Her memoir, Field Notes, A Geography of Mourning, received the Julia Ward Howe Prize, Honorable Mention, from the Boston Authors Club. New work appears in The Rupture, DIAGRAM, Cloudbank, and Nowhere magazine where her essay, “Sightings,” was a finalist in the Fall Travel writing contest.