July 2023
Bio Note: Poetry and my chickens sustained me through the pandemic. I am delighted that my full-length collection The Waiting Room for the Imperfect Alibis is out from Kelsay Books and The Devil Orders a Latte is forthcoming from Fernwood Press. I have two Pushcart Prize nominations and quite a few chickens.
Early Morning Substrate
Through mists
we wander,
past herons
towards the boathouse,
grab a shell,
place it on
the great river,
clamber in,
begin to dip and
pull
Each stroke,
we ask the water
questions of float,
of passage
Only when we are
up to speed,
slicing along,
does the river answer
in syllables of
glide and skim,
answers we will
carry through
the rest of
each landed
day
Transfiguration
I am almost the lily
—Mary Oliver
More often than not,
I am the tree trunk
the touchable,
the vulnerable
Some days, the onion,
swelling beneath
Other days,
I’m the petal,
mid-glory.
on the perch of drop
But in June
on the terrace,
I am, only at twilight,
well-nigh the daisy,
teeth song against
deep emerald,
straining against
the fade
©2023 Katrin Talbot
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