Leah Stenson is a published poet, workshop leader, Board Member of Friends of William Stafford, and coordinator and host of the prestigious Stonehenge Studios reading series in Portland. She is also an editor of the upcoming Ooligan Press anthology, The Pacific Poetry Project. Her new chapbook, Heavenly Body, was recently released by Finishing Line Press. Leah’s publications credits include Oregon Literary Review, Northwest Women’s Journal, The Oregonian, and San Diego Poetry Annual.
Same River Twice
By Leah Stenson
By Leah Stenson
What brings us back to
this neglected Victorian
where we lived as newlyweds?
Will our Russian landlady
who’d have to be over 100
still open the door?
Behind the lace curtain,
a woman, alone and uncertain,
insists we come back tomorrow.
But we’re here now, ready,
having come all this way
just to see where we started.
Your tears and sincerity
allay her fears. She opens the door.
Decades telescope into minutes,
and any doubt you’d love me
to the end is dispelled as we step
again over the threshold.
Leah, this is lovely.
So sweet.
Love it. Tender and touching.