POETRY

Translation with Traffic

By Lawrence Di Stefano     VOLUME 56 No. 1

Vertical Divider

Sky violets a bridge—it’s that time of day
again. Time to sit and wait, and go,

eventually, to where the road wants.
Dead stop, gridlocked, French song

on a loop. In front of me, a wall
the semitruck makes and brake lights

amour     windshield, a smear the shape
of an arc, bird shit, red half-moon,

red face, darkened, red—now stop.
I stop. It’s this song in French

amour     the only word I know     l’amour
and something about sadness,

I think,     and red light—how it demands
we slow and stop      amour      go, then follow


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LAWRENCE DI STEFANO’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in RHINO, Bear Review, STIRRING, The Shore, and Santa Clara Review, among other journals. He holds an MFA in poetry from San Diego State University and is co-editor of poetry at the Los Angeles Review. He is currently working on his debut chapbook. Find him at lawrencedistefano.com.


VOLUME 56 No. 1