6: Tara Skurtu

Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.

MORNING LOVE POEM

by Tara Skurtu

Dreamt last night I fed you, unknowingly,
something you were allergic to.

And you were gone, like that. 

You don’t have even a single allergy,
but still. The dream cracked. Cars nose-dived 

off snow banks into side streets. Sometimes
dreams slip poison, make the living

dead then alive again, twirling
in an unfamiliar room.

It’s hard to say I need you enough.

Today I did. Walked into your morning
shower fully clothed. All the moments

we stop ourselves just because we might
feel embarrassed or impractical, or get wet.

About the Author

Tara Skurtu is the author of the chapbook Skurtu, Romania, the full poetry collection The Amoeba Game, and the upcoming collection Faith Farm. A two-time Fulbright grantee and recipient of a Robert Pinsky Global Fellowship, the Marcia Keach Poetry Prize, and two Academy of American Poets prizes, she is the founder of International Poetry Circle and a national steering committee member of Writers for Democratic Action. Tara is based in Brooklyn, where she is a writing coach for clients worldwide.

Queer Poem a Day: Lineage Edition

• 1: Richie Hoffman
• 2: Derrick Austin
• 3: Maggie Millner
• 4: Rachel Mennies
• 5: Armen Davoudian
• 6: Tara Skurtu
• 7: K. Iver
• 8: Chen Chen
• 9: Alicia Mountain
• 10: Jameson Fitzpatrick
• 11: Randall Mann
• 12: Megan Fernandes
• 13: Amanda Gunn
• 14: Composer Robert Savage and John Ashbery

Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this third year of our series is the AIDS Ward Scherzo by Robert Savage, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission.