Kingdom of Sand. I know that I am. Your long begotten son, born from Rain and Stone. Though I am severed from thee, I am of thy Bone. I tread the Tides, so far from birth. Swayed by Mighty Winds, I hold firm to the Earth. Guided by Moon and Star, I have sailed thus far. Dreams dashed to the wilderness, I voyaged out with nothing less. With heart rooted to thy shore, I wished…
Road of damnation. How long have my steps haunted scorched Asphalt. A mirage of my former frame Willed back to existence. As if projected through dust and air, From the memory of friends and family And yet corporeal…The hole remains, Void of light and warmth. And so I wander winding threads beyond what mortal eye could see Feet dragged heavy through cracked stone, Searching…until all of me is made whole. And as time unfolds, I…
Dog-bitten and soft, the casualty of our happy home gifts palmfuls of fruit each June, antisocial sanctum each afternoon. A simple hum, fluttering green thumb, dove chests and eggshell ribs soaking my parents’ pacific yard. Would it be so terrible? Bathtub voices, berries, jungly suspension over the yard? Every eye in this house a tree stump, a pair of well-worn feet. Everyone I love is a dandelion on a lawn, lifting lemony face, grinning at…
In final days, the sound of music. The smell of salt, softened. Fawn eyes, stains. The weeping, the willow, and the trucker: wavering leg, soft-bellied and tender in warm metal box. For Emma, again. Fizz of brilliant sprout each spring, caskets of cartilage each October. The number of moons needed to harvest a word, and how we only learned to fly because one afternoon two brothers saw a bird and wondered how to model its…
The storm arrived to play, to provoke the lake in earnest, after I set off on my swim. I felt it move from diamonds and gleam to graphite and raw edges. Weightless, tossed sideways over and again, and in my small irrelevance I stroke towards land, turn my breath away from the waves wanting in. Lake of refuge, reliability and impervious beauty, reminding me now of its unfathomable self, its ceaselessness. The thresholds I routinely…
The air is cooling, a torrent of nostalgia and hope, disconsolate breaths, echoes of sighs and whispers. Touch the velvet decadence of sumach, the curled, browned beauty of dessicated Queen Anne’s lace, the teasels and burrs in their sculptural perfection. Yellows appear, a million wistful browns, but also fiery reds, fervent burgundies, thick and saturated as garnets and wine. The skies observe impassively, so often colourless now in their lush showcase of greys. Spring gets…
The orchid in flower, neglected just enough. (Hold tight to this mystery.) My cardigan is grey, plain envelope, a containment. Goodbyes still rend me: unwelcome art, unacquired skill. As a child I clung at bedtime, wanting someone beside me. For years, I wrote ‘each other’ as one word. Change is constant and partings inevitable, wrenching and severing part of our travels. But I weep at their leavings, these astonishing creatures, huge, sprung from my body.…
If not for failure, there’d be more moonshots. Too much at stake, the child must wait Til the cards align themselves. Progress stale like bread exposed to air For days on end. Begins to Mold Herself in the image of someone she was told Means something to this world. In prayer stance, seeking a chance to start Over- Coming learning what was supposed to be The answers, reversed to an abomination of A predisposed righteous…
Your Dirty Hands left marks on me. And when I wash them off My own stains are revealed to me. My insecurities are like a red wine stain On a white summer dress Hard to look at My shame, dirtier Like the stains on my sweatpants thrown in the back of my closet Dirtier, is my Anxiety You can smell it from two blocks down Ripe as the oversized -used to be white- t-shirt that…
Halloween Hustle 3rd Place Winner When October is to fade, as sunlight turns to shade, you’ll begin to feel afraid of the fast dark’ning eve. You’ll see beady yellow eyes, and monsters in disguise. The orange moon on the rise will cause shadow to deceive. When you see pumpkin pickers, and candlelight flickers, be prepared for when trickers come a ‘rapping at your door. So starts the plight when zombies creep, and vampires cease to…