Exulting in pent-up power, I forecast
gratitude, permit you to reel me in.
An arc exhilarates moribund air,
my body clouts the deck.
Consummated eyes vow to return.
Your back briskens, the pier a lengthened aisle. Alone,
I gasp my guts loose. Panic cramps my core.
Voiceless supplications convulse weathered wood:
Step on me. Throw me back
into quondam teary daze.
Just, for the love of god, unhook me.
Teresa Tumminello Brader is a New Orleanian, spurred on to writing by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Her first book, Letting in Air and Light, a work of hybrid memoir/fiction from Belle Point Press, was one of three nominees for the 2025 One Book One New Orleans citywide read. Secret Keepers, her first short-story collection, is forthcoming from the same press (March 25, 2025). Her other work can be found online and in print anthologies.
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This last line never left my head after reading
The rush of images, the gasp of that extraordinary closing, this is so, so good. I have read it through just now 5 times, and will read it again.