One Heaven

by K.T. Landon

Choose one instant
in which to spend

forever. Sprawled in
the nighttime grass

at eight years old,
run through with

starlight. That first
electric I love you,

before you knew
all that love was.

The last day in Italy
when you realized

the light had made
you another kind

of alive. Mornings,
curled around each

other, the windows
open, the doves calling

quietly in the dawn.
The lush intoxication

of the lilac he planted
for you. The frozen

field of snow, giving
the moon back to

itself. In the quiet
hospital holding

your mother’s hand,
knowing at the last

she waited for you.
Every incandescent

moment—burning,
breaking—you

already spiraling
into that eternity.

Finalist, the Poetry International Prize 2022

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