Isabel Chenot
Empathy
I will invite heartache until pain shatters my ego –
until arduous waves rake me and roll to you
lifting debris,
softening every pith I touch, washing through
time, seeping down dark
crevices. So I will find your hidden mark
of pain, and feel it too.
And I will not be afraid. Or if I am, I will swallow fear
and walk unhidden where your pain has preyed,
turning on lights –
as when weak noises shatter nights
and space is nothing
but a risk erupting
in.
Bio
Recent published work includes some translations of Amado Nervo's beautiful poetry in the June 2017 issue of TinderBox Poetry Journal, and poems are forthcoming in Assisi.