"The Year of Held Breath" ~ Veronica Patterson

I read poem below in the Spring/Summer 2007 issue of the GSU REVIEW and fell in love with it.

The Year of Held Breath

~ Veronica Patterson ~

It was the year of tufted grasses. It was the year of questions. It was the year of fog
over the vineyard. The year you started falling. A damaged year. It was the year
of sails in the distance and knots here. It was the year without refuge. It was the
year of bog orchids, early runoff, unaccountable swelling. It was the year of sweet
peppers in August and patience, a year without diagnosis. It was the year of storms
on both sides of the window, of your pain. It was a year without skin. A year of
testing. It came without warning or instructions. It was the year of swallows caked
under the bridge, of difficulty swallowing. It was the year of small foxes, white
pelicans, one brown pelican far from its coast. Outside, the war deepened but we
couldn't turn our faces to it. It was a year of drought. It was a year without syntax
or punctuation. It was the year of disarray. It was the year of mountains looking
away, seeming to look away.