The
Slanted
Winds
Down
The afternoon fog will roll in from the North
and burn off first from the South.
The bridges will hold the droplets of moisture
until dinnertime as lovers embrace through locked
lips, while a wingless angel forgotten,
stands at the glistening edge,
leaping, ending the present.
She’ll flick the kitchen light on first
and wake up her youngest last,
standing slipper-less in the hallway,
remembering the miscarriage
who couldn’t wait, tears always
for the impatient.
They say she didn’t suffer long,
she went quick, the rigor mortis
set in as the body bag’s zipper snagged
her lacy front nightgown her daughter
bought for her on a Mother’s Day,
years ago, forgotten.
She still doesn’t allow her husband
to undress her at night, only cradle
her softly with the nightlight visible
and her calls to the detective go unreturned,
while her rape kit remains untested,
nine months old.
Once gentrification visits a neighborhood,
who will remember that name,
those people,
that corner,
whose culture,
that lost identity
which invites us in to stay.
The wind whips up and grabs
the leaves and debris of last night,
becoming today and the future,
as a woman stands with her newborn
cradled in her arms,
stale teardrops upon her neckline,
her ignored, days old soiled hand
extended outward,
begging for her next meal.
Written By: Vincent Calvarese
About the Author: As a writer and visual artist, he found his wings amongst his heroes of Eureka Valley. Using the San Francisco Bay Area as his canvas, he highlights themes of restorative justice in The Final Visit, familial pain in The Flesh of the Father, gun violence in Three Cloves of Garlic, the pharmaceutical crisis in The Clipboard and the gentrifying 7×7 plain in The Slanted Winds Down Guerrero Street. He is a past General and Poetry Editor for Forum Magazine.
Visual Art By: Eunbin Lee
About the Artist: I am a student studying photography from Korea. Living in a new culture and environment of the United States, I try to express through pictures what I felt based on various daily experiences. I feel a sense of freedom by expressing it through my photographs rather than words. I hope people can feel the feelings that I want to convey through my photos.
Forum Literary Magazine 