Alexandr Goncharenko photo

Svetlana Ischenko came to Canada from Mykolaiv, Ukraine. There she published two books: Chorales of Heaven and Earth (Vyr Publishing House, Kyiv, 1995) and B-Sharp (Mozhlivosti of Kimmeria Publishers, Mykolaiv, 1998). Several of her poems were included in Beginnings (Smoloskip Publishers, Kyiv, 2000), an anthology of new Ukrainian poets. In Canada, her work has appeared in The Antigonish Review, From This New World (Ten Dollar Words, 2003), and in Che’ Wách Choe ~ Let the Delirium Begin (Leaf Press, 2002). "Love is on the tips of my comb" is an excerpt from her forthcoming Leaf chapbook In the Mornings I Find a Crane's Feathers in my Damp Braids.

Monday's Poem


© Svetlana Ischenko

 

Love is on the tips of the comb
with which I comb my long hair.
Love is on the ends of my hair
that I spread out over you like a sheet.
Love is in the palm of my hand
that forms to your ripening shoot.
Love is on the tips of my fingers
that touch to your navel as if guided there.
Love is in its depth;
I reach love with the tip of my tongue
the way a wild creature reaches
to rainwater between split stones.
Love is on the tip of my tongue.
Love is on the tip ...