"Looking Through a Blue Bowl" by Kathryn de Leon

Looking Through a Blue Bowl

Hold it to your eye like a kaleidoscope.
Look through the thick glass,
watch the day burn blue,

see afternoon's bright windows
fill with sudden twilight,
sunlight on the walls lowered

like dying flames.
Time will slow down,
trap you in a world stalled blue.

If the day is cloudy,
the bowl will give you midnight.
Check the mirror,

your face soft and grieving,
arms bruised,
flowers on the table

sober as if rained on,
pillows on your bed
stained to a darkness of sleep.

Remember to bring the sun back,
leave all that sad blue in the bowl.
It will wait there
even when you don't want it.

Kathryn de Leon

Kathryn de Leon is from Los Angeles, California, but has been living in England for thirteen years. She is a teacher and lived in Japan for six years teaching English to Japanese university students. Her poems have appeared in several magazines in the US, including Calliope, Aaduna, Black Fox, Trouvaille Review, and Neologism Poetry, and in several in the UK, including London Grip, The Blue Nib, and The High Window, where she was the Featured American Poet.

Headshot: Ian Mathews

Photo Credit: Staff