Lucia Cherciu

Lucia Cherciu teaches English at SUNY / Dutchess in Poughkeepsie, NY. Her poetry has appeared in Memoir (and), Earth’s Daughters, Off the Coast, and elsewhere. She writes both in English and in Romanian, but does not translate her own work. She is the author of two books of poetry, Lepãdarea de Limbã—The Abandonment of Language (Editura Vinea 2009) and Altoiul Râsului—Grafted Laughter (Editura Brumar 2010).

Geraniums

The geraniums in the mountains, exuberance
when everything else is counted, rationed,

invite guests to stop for a tumbler of ţuică.
An old woman waves from her rocking chair—

she donned black for her first departed
and before the three years of mourning were up

another passed away so she never broke out
her green scarf again. Planted in rusted

tomato cans, geraniums spread their leaves
like chubby palms, scalloped light cutting spades

of x-rayed dust into the rooms furnished
with rustic hutches in the corners, wood

fitting intimately into wood with no nails.