The Nearest Way

By Emma Trelles

Would I consume what I really wanted
only nothing would be left. I am many pigments
maybe you should figure them out, I’m spent from shining
except when I depart, then my antelope heart sends me
north to the high lands, where I glow unseen among the pines.

Emma Trelles is the author of Tropicalia, winner of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize. She is currently writing a second book of poems, Courage and the Clock, and has received writing fellowships from CantoMundo and the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs. She teaches at Santa Barbara City College and curates the Mission Poetry Series. Also by this poet: "Sonnet for Mark" and "Novena for Garden Street"