The Avenue

Alfredo Barnaby

At dusk the skirt would unfold from an inkblot.

I would follow each hem,

vase of barren soil tilting forth,

palms welled for a spare garden,

until it frayed apart, clutching

her basket, in arrow-nosed stroll

ticking on the sidewalk.

Hands in my two stomachs

as hats brimmed with roads,

spilled clocks onto concrete

—even that blindfolded zero

searched for golden coins

under park benches.

Alfredo Barnaby was born in Lima, Peru and moved to Lewiston, Idaho when he was thirteen. He has since lived in the northwest. He has a master’s degree in Spanish literature and wrote his thesis about the Peruvian poet César Vallejo. He currently live in Seattle, WA and is a doctoral student at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA.