January 2025
Bio Note: Australian-born, my books The Devil Orders A Latte and Falling Asleep at the Circus were just released from Fernwood Press and Turning Point Books, respectively. I have quite a few chickens and one noisy viola and hang out my poems to dry in all weather.
Thrift
On this day of gloom and brilliance, I’ve decided to take myself, as article, to the consignment shop Oh how lovely, they’ll say as they hold me up, give me a bit of a shake, brush off a few cat hairs and reach for a hanger She’ll be snatched right up! —a promise made as easily as a fried egg My fifteen seconds of fame just before discerning consumer judgment on and off the rack
The Heart’s Stunning Suit
It took years, the fitting of the armor, the measuring, the pounding, the etching of filigree over the left ventricle-- A careful assembling so no part remains vulnerable. A mosaic of gauntlet, gorget, tuile, palette, all by reason of the sharpness of broken promises, the shattering of dreams, the metric tons of sadness that can be pressed upon the unprotected chest. A moment long-awaited --the final tap of approval on the breast plate by the artisan, another satisfied customer to send over the moat, out, ready, prepared for the slow run towards life’s bloody forces.
Drawn
Toss me up Let me scrape against those skies Throw me in that water Cover me with the blues that have no earthly names Let me be purified Scrub me with that affusion blue Torture me with incantation's necessary drip emerging from those fear-god teeth Overwhelm me with handfuls of aspersions Wash away what you will Deem me saved from myself, but let me keep the rectifying blues, the emerald promises Lose me in those waters No one will notice when I slip away beneath, submerged in that moment between blue and green, my paddling hands rippling away to a neonatal nothingness while the ritual's shimmer just above the surface blinds me And my just-out eyes show me, through a murky viridity, the toothless passage home
©2025 Katrin Talbot
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