Donna Spruijt-Metz

Donna Spruijt-Metz is a poet, translator, and Professor of Psychology and Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Her first career was as a professional flutist. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in venues such as the Los Angeles Review, Copper Nickel, RHINO, and Poetry Northwest. Her chapbook, Slippery Surfaces, was published by Finishing Line Press in March of 2019.

Pebbles Along the Labyrinth

—Psalm 31

Listening for mercy –
I place pebbles

along the labyrinth – smooth

in YOUR hand

against
the cutting nets
of trust

I am narrow
in the throat

Eyes clenched like fists

blackened bones rattle out
grief.

In the dream
I am a dead boat no sound
still waters

only the clamor
of time
the rasp