This poem is taken from PN Review 193, Volume 36 Number 5, May - June 2010.

Three Poems

Tara Bergin

Swiss Station Room

Dear Anne, what a show -
my tongue was going
like the red second hand
on that clock, on that clock
at the station, did you see it?
When he watched me -
Did you see how my cheeks
were flushed - how my cheeks were hot?
Did you see how my hands on my lap
pulled and twisted at my dress -
Could he see? How shy?
I spoke vainly: it was false.

Liebe Anne, you spoke so much better,
like a man, like a bull -

Ay ay ay -
it’s becoming
it’s becoming habitual
and I...

How vain the sea is also, though,
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