Apr. 25th, 2009
The Year of Held Breath
by Veronica Patterson
It was the year of tufted grasses. It was the year of questions. It was the year of fog over
the vineyard. The year you started falling. A damaged year. It was the year of sails in the
distance and knots here. It was the year without refuge. It was the year of bog orchids,
early runoff, unaccountable swelling. It was the year of sweet peppers in August and
patience, a year without diagnosis. It was the year of storms on both sides of the window,
of your pain. It was a year without skin. A year of testing. It came without warning or
instructions. It was the year of swallows caked under the bridge, of difficulty swallowing.
It was the year of small foxes, white pelicans, one brown pelican far from its coast.
Outside, the war deepened but we couldn’t turn our faces to it. It was a year of drought. It
was a year without syntax or punctuation. It was the year of disarray. It was the year of
mountains looking away, seeming to look away.