Aubade

Aubade

I want to punch the time clocks

with fists of air,

polish my anger

like a blade,

so one morning it will thrust

the core of it

and hands will know purpose.

The fleeting stance of love

lingers still in small, barred places,

unreached by the long itchy hands

that tick and tock,

unhindered,

until I sink back into silence

and am reminded it is gone.

Clara Burghelea is a Romanian-born poet. Recipient of the 2018 Robert Muroff Poetry Award, she got her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Adelphi University. Her poems, fiction, and translations have been published in Full of Crow Press, Ambit Magazine, HeadStuff, Waxwing and elsewhere. Her collection The Flavor of the Other is scheduled for publication in 2019 with Dos Madres Press.