On an Island (New York City) by Joseph O. Legaspi

In the last hour of night, I lean into

a book that multiplies its pages.

A settling and a continuum:

bedding down of a sedentary body

and a story of an expanding universe.

For nearly three months I’ve not walked 

out into the evening, my skin un-kissed 

by summering breeze, wafts of ghost 

fragrances of wisteria and gardenia.

                                                 A virus has leapt 

into another species, and a plague roams 

the globe, locking down its best predator.

Health: spatial matter and loneliness.

                                  I’m not reading the book, 

thumbing its leafing, fanning pages. 

In bed I prefer to be hostile 

and, rather, host my own 

breathing. In the distance, sirens

like a continuous Nina Simone dirge.

                              As water through granite, 

I let myself dream of an archipelago 

where I began, a scattering both

of isolation and attachment.

Joseph O. Legaspi is the author of the poetry collections Threshold and Imago, both from CavanKerry Press; and three chapbooks: Postcards (Ghost Bird Press), Aviary, Bestiary (Organic Weapon Arts), and Subways (Thrush Press). He cofounded Kundiman (www.kundiman.org), and lives with his husband in Queens, NY.