by Cristina Nehring (July 2025)
–
Do I anger you,
My love?
Do I cross you?
Do the written words
That struggle to
Ensconce you
Succeed just to incense you?
–
We toe a fine line
Between ardor and offense,
What words shall
Walk the tightrope?
What pose will strike you
Move you, heat you?
–
Words are all we have
And all we care to have—
Or so we say.
Gods, grant me your verbs,
Grant me your daylight.
And let us meet, my love,
On the swinging bridge of words
Let us touch two fingers before we fall into the abyss
–
Table of Contents
Cristina Nehring‘s most recent book is The Child Who Never Spoke: 23 1/2 Lessons in Fragility. She is also the author of A Vindication of Love which made the front page of the New York Times Book Review as well as two books in French. She writes for Atlantic, Harper’s, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. She lives in Paris with her daughter. See more at www.cristinanehring.net.
Follow NER on Twitter @NERIconoclast
