West Trade Review: "Dissociation" by Erica Dawson

Erica Dawson

Erica Dawson is the author of three books of poetry, most recently When Rap Spoke Straight to God (Tin House 2018). Her poems have appeared in three editions of Best American Poetry (2008, 2012, and 2015), Blackbird, Orion, The Believer, VQR, American Society: What Poets See, and other anthologies and journals. She holds a PhD from University of Cincinnati. She lives in the Baltimore-D.C. area.

Dissociation

I lost you somewhere in

the cherry blossoms when

the songbirds died.

Around

the tidal basin, blush

swallowed you whole.

Did you

reach the river? Did you

dip a toe or step all the

way in, the current wrapped

around you like I used

to be?

Last night,

I pictured you beneath

the surface, watched you sink

down to the stream bed, cried

so hard I lost lashes,

wiping my eyes with the back

of my hand.

By now I’m used

to being on my own.

I move about the space

like fog and when I think

of you, it’s softly, barely

whisper from the voice

inside my head. Sometimes

it sounds as if immersed

in water. I can hear

each reach for air.

Sometimes I think

that I am beautiful.

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