Poetry by Maija Haavisto

I want the confidence to sing in public
and when I hit the wrong note
someone will go, gotcha
that’s not your note
it’s one I lost on an empty highway
in Nevada in 1978 and thought
I’d never get back, yet there it is

people connected through time and space
but it’s such a disjointed experience
they would leave furious comments
on my terrible singing
I’d flip the phone upside down
and admire the thumb-ups coming in
in dreamy staccato
the choir of yellow foreheads, smiling

Maija Haavisto has had two poetry collections published in Finland: Raskas vesi (Aviador 2018) and Hopeatee (Oppian 2020). In English her poetry has appeared in e.g. Moist, Capsule Stories, ShabdAaweg Review, The North, Streetcake, ANMLY, Eye to the Telescope, Shoreline of Infinity and Kaleidoscope. Follow her on Twitter @DiamonDie. She has poetry readings available on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/user/DiamonDie

Photo by Emmanuel Ikwuegbu on Unsplash