Last Word

Free Verse Poem by Laura Turzo

Out on her dying breath came love
from a mouth twisted in disgrace
and limbs gnarled by centuries of shame.
Solitary, hanging still,
a vapor in the air, one word.

Love, primary element,
disguised as mistrust
and burdens to be tolerated,
beating its chest,
screaming to be heard.

Love, at last
slipping out of sadness
then disappearing
into itself.

Laura Turzo is a writer of poetry, fiction, and narrative non-fiction. She currently lives in the Berkshires. Her work is included in an anthology of poetry and prose from Mackenzie Publishing, the Written Tales chapbook Nature’s Embrace: A Symphony of Voices, and online at Beatnik Cowboy and Backwards Trajectory.