Poem of the Week: DéLana R.A. Dameron

FIRST SNOW

Split peas simmer to a chalky paste when held
long enough over fire. Suspended over heat

I’ve been known to change properties: I said
I would never forgive. Beside my pot the silver knife

blade longer than my hand smells like onion
& crushed garlic; I have held this same blade out

toward his chest. A year ago I knew cold,
but now I marvel at how winter brings

wanderers inside: the scurrying mice
through the walls. The quilt collected

at the foot of the bed like old receipts. Last night
I slept on the higher side of the mattress,

let him back into open spaces. Outside the first snow
falls; we might have melted.

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DéLana R.A. Dameron is the author of How God Ends Us, a collection of poems selected by Elizabeth Alexander for the 2008 South Carolina Poetry Book Prize. Dameron’s poetry, non-fiction and fiction have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies and she has received fellowships from the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, the Cave Canem Foundation, Soul Mountain Retreat and New York University where she received her Master in Fine Arts in poetry. Dameron has conducted readings, workshops and lectures all across the United States and Europe. A native of Columbia, South Carolina, she currently resides in New York City. http://delanaradameron.com