“Housebound” by Marilyn Sears Bourbon”

Long from now you will remember nighttime too light
for sleeping when springtime came.  You will

remember feathery guitar from downstairs,
the dish, splash, laugh of evening a lullaby

with no hurried rhythm, a drift, a chord,
a slipdown of sounds.  You

will remember birdcall and footsteps, voices and soft
dragonfly fabric over your west window, the green

scarf with tassels and fish on the north
window.  You will remember your sister

calling “Mom” for water out of the waking
silence, the dawning dark—

You will remember our calico cat on the foot
of your bed, her purr a current

pulling you down into the moment
you won’t remember—when sleep becomes

deep green and lavender, when the song
you didn’t know you were humming becomes breath.

Leslie Nielsen has lived and made art in Ohio and Denmark. As a founding member of Living Fountain Dance Company and founding director of The Art of Worship conferences, Leslie has led classes and workshops in many art forms, always with the goal of enriching participants’ inspiration, creativity, and awareness. She holds an MA in Literature and an MFA in Poetry Writing, teaches part-time at Kent State University, and works actively in words, music, and visual art.

Read an interview with Leslie here.