Poet Aleathia Drehmer from The Idiom

This week we are going to feature poet, Aleathia Drehmer, from Current Issue

Here is one of her poems and the next few posts over the next couple of days are going to feature the audio files that she submitted which talk about this poem and some audio of her reading it!

Inherent Topography

My ears buzz with the rushing
of early morning highway tires—
trucks moving cargo across
imaginary maps across
inherent topography.

I place a pile of books
on the side of the bed
where I’d rather see your
sleeping back rise and fall

like overthrown countries
in turmoil. I stack them high
to keep the truth
of your invisibility a secret.

I write a letter to my uncle
in prison asking for a soft hand
on my misguided morality
knowing he would understand

a heart doesn’t control
the destination of its beats;
it doesn’t discriminate when love
moves in without asking.

4 pages later the pen stops
and the books topple
and the trucks keep racing
away from me until I see how alone

I really am. I shut
out the light
and listen
for your breathing.