Dark Matter
by Dorothy Nielsen
Dark Matter by Dorothy Nielsen -- for W and her child She's always just beyond the open door. Her shadow disappears when I step through. The sunlight shivers for a second more - a second of this light she never knew. Her shadow disappears when I step through as if it knows she can't ever belong a second in this light she never knew. She remains a dark pause in an unvoiced song. As if she knows she can't ever belong but that to lose her would collapse my world, she remains: a dark pause in my unvoiced song, my always just-beyond, unchosen girl. Yes - to lose her would collapse the world: her atoms are composed of something rare, this ever just-beyond, unchosen girl who always is, yet isn't ever there.
Dorothy Nielsen's poetry has appeared in many Canadian and U.S. journals, including The Literary Review of Canada, The Fiddlehead, The Dalhousie Review, Room Magazine, Christianity and Literature, and Ekstasis. She is the author of one collection of poetry. Her literary essays can be found in journals such as Contemporary Literature, Traces Journal and Canadian Poetry, as well as in several essay collections, including the forthcoming The Alchemy of Stories: Essays on Literature and Life.
