She stands by the sink, 
by the salad, by the wine, 
opens her throat 

and a scale runs 
like a river flowing up 
from the shadow world 

of a low E note 
through the sunlight 
of octaves reaching skyward 

to the pinnacle of high C 
where the world swirls 
in prism light. 

The dog cocks his head 
and stares, draws nearer 
to this voice 

which is both sound and light 
and gives off so much 
dazzling color 

that the only word I can think 
to describe it 
is diamond— 

the gold, blue, green, red, 
silvery brilliance 
fills the room 

and casts amazement 
upon the salad, the wine, 
the whole blessèd everything. 

Tamara Madison

is the author of the chapbook The Belly Remembers and two full-length volumes of poetry, Wild Domestic and Moraine, all published by Pearl Editions. Her most recent chapbook, On the Fault Line, was released in March by Picture Show Press. Her full-length poetry collection Morpheus Dips His Oar is forthcoming from Sheila-Na-Gig Editions. Her work has appeared in Chiron Review, The Worcester Review, A Year of Being Here, ONE ART, The Writer’s Almanac, and many other publications.

A swimmer, dog lover, and native of the southern California desert, Ms. Madison has recently retired from teaching English and French in a Los Angeles high school. Read more about her at:
https://tamaramadisonpoetry.com