Three Questionnaires
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On Transience
Hold in your mind these few days
when the world outside transforms
it is autumn
and death is life to come
we are never just observing
nor held separate from the world
we are a tree, an insect and the earth
we are the sky and tumbling water
today, this instant in time’s continuum
I exist in soft animal form
tomorrow my star dust will devolve
break down to mineral parts
grow into its new measure
maple leaves twist in the breeze
colours change as they fall
a kaleidoscope of gold to ruby shades
this wonder, to watch my ancestors
and my children’s children
what hope and fear to ponder.
Pagan
I sit in bed rugged against the cold
watching the sun warm a wall of brick
I feel the chill of an autumn night
lose its hold on the baked clay façade
dun brown transforms to gold
and the lizard in me basks
as stiff shoulders ease their knots
an ancient instinct worships its primal god.
In at the Deep End
I am swimming through a pool of words
some dart like minnows or pop like bubbles
soft syllables bump against my skin
I nibble at the tails of some
those Ts and Ls sliding past my nose
I glide in smooth breaststrokes
as my fingers filter the longer vowels
while I push their sounds apart
curled consonants wriggle through my toes
they regroup in languid strings
each swell of sentence folds or fades
in dips and gentle waving lines
until my feet touch ground again
and I hold this slip of poem
cupped within my dripping hands.
Michele Fermanis-Winward attempts to see the world in soft animal form. Please comment below, support Michele here, and consider donating a sum to this magazine as thanks for this experience.
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Delicate and yet so substantial. . . I’ll take more any time.
“On Transience” and “Pagan” are especially moving. Great work.
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