January 2025
Bonnie Demerjian
bonniede@aptalaska.net
bonniede@aptalaska.net
Bio Note: I write from my island home in Southeast Alaska in the Tongass National Forest, a place that continually nourishes my writing. My poetry has appeared in Tidal Echoes, Alaska Women Speak, and Blue Heron Review, among others. I have also written four nonfiction books on the human and natural history of Southeast Alaska, including my particular interest in rock art.
Reality Bites but Can’t Swallow
You were still a believer
in Santa
it seems.
Your tears at the table weren’t fake
you were keeping the faith.
That bubble busted,
a puff of fantasy blown away, and
where is it now?
With all the other unseen real,
not gone, but changed —
water to steam,
a touch to healing,
childhood melted to memories,
a treasure box you’ll come to unlock in silence and years.
No house can contain imagination.
Let yours escape through the half-cracked window of your upper room.
It will find a new home.
There’s always a place for a dreamer.
©2025 Bonnie Demerjian
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