Treatment

Terese Mason Pierre

I don’t know how I feel about rain.
It means your call

a long sigh into
the receiver

You say the rain makes you think
of society and the universe,

how we are all each other
and nothing

you are purposeful
in your elegy of islands.

I refuse to ask
if you need anything

I know you will insist
I am the answer

and my legs will locate the will
to kneel before your threshold

soaking my jeans on
your wet doormat.

In May, I went to Grenada
and surrendered myself to the sun

You called
to collect me

I say I am experiencing a different kind of water
that makes me think of how we are nothing

You joke that you’re upset
we’re not seeing the same sky.

I rub dry sand
on my skin—

there must be a reason
it never goes away.




Terese Mason Pierre is a Canadian writer, editor and organizer. Her work has appeared in the Hart House Review, Collapsar, The Brasilia Review and others. She is the poetry editor for Augur Magazine and the co-host of Shab-e She'r, a poetry reading series in Toronto.