At night I heard you breathing at the window*
Jean Valentine
I crave the disembodied swirl
of a visage above, around me,
sifting through my corporeal
bulk, like to think it could be
my mother, brother, funny aunt
Mary, close in my ear, whispering
to look one more time, reach
further under the bed—reach
for a sure hand to pull me back,
back to land, when I am drowning.
*From the poem “Ghost Elephants” from Break the Glass
Hari B Parisi’s (formerly Hari Bhajan Khalsa) poems have been published in numerous journals and are forthcoming in Thuya Poetry Review, The Blood Pudding and Inklet. She is the author of three volumes of poetry, most recently, She Speaks to the Birds at Night While They Sleep, winner of the 2020 Tebot Bach Clockwise Chapbook Contest.