A poem (with image) from our artist/poet in residence C. Albert.
Flora the Poet
The Meaning of Roundling
With the edges
of our eyes, we catch glimpses
of roundlings peeking through windows.
Gentle creatures, ready to bolt,
fragile with dark traumas
passed onto them.
Best not to talk
in x,y,z. A whisper,
“why didn’t you” or “you should”
is an attack of syntax, a barbed construction
that shatters them. They will run
with the thought,
“It is not safe.”
Once they flee,
the void aches with absence
of oval tenderness.
Sometimes they can be enticed
with soft fruits and scents of fresh
lemon, orange or tangerine.
Round stones
will please.
Feed them colors,
speak in fluted ragas,
offer acceptance.
The Meaning of Roundling was first published in Mannequin Envy.
* C.Albert is based in Seattle, Washington and we will be featuring more of her work in the coming months. She can be contacted through inksweatandtears@aol.com.