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[Poetry] Two Poems by Judith Mikesch-McKenzie

Triolets - Seeking After Driftwood

“We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected on the deep.” - William James

 

1.

At the ocean front, we did not walk together

each a distant silhouette dancing in the crashing tide

soaking up glory from water, wind and weather.

At the ocean front, we chose not to walk together

no need to find comfort in the press of side to side,

no need to collect shell and sand and feathers.

At the ocean front, we found solace in not-together,

each a far-seen shadow dancing in the crashing tide.

 

2.

At the ocean front, we walk the sand together, bodies close,

each a soft-felt steadiness as feet wash in the tide.

At the ocean front, we walk the sand together, bodies close,

the islands that we once were now ill-remembered shadow-ghosts.

No hurry, no dancing, no efforts to scurry away wide

from dancing waters, we stand together instead to watch its shows.

At the ocean front, we walk the sand together, bodies touching close,

each a soft-felt steadiness as our feet wash in the tide.

 

 

 

Taking Flight

 

 

The wings dip             quick

      and level      quick

and I can feel

knuckles of others tighten on

     armrests

        all around me


while               within

        I rest


In my mind

the wind has substance

                    

                it walks with you on the beach where

                   we watched it blow

               sand into diamond patterns that shift

                    and move while

                             still maintaining

               perfect geometry


and you wonder aloud how air can have such power


and I tell you I feel that I can

      lay down upon the wind and it will

  carry me


a flight path marked by cotton and

        drifting sand

    across what you call ‘the nothing of sky’


the air itself

     my only

  destination.    



Judith Mikesch-McKenzie holds a Masters in Creative Writing, and has taught writing throughout the Northwest before becoming a full-time faculty in Oregon. She has traveled widely, but is always drawn to the Rocky Mountains as one place that feeds her soul. Writing is her home. Her poems have appeared or are upcoming in Calyx, Plainsongs Magazine, Meat for Tea Valley Review, Clackamas Literary Review, and over 40 others. She has published novels and textbooks, and has recently won and placed in two short story contests. She is a wee bit of an Irish curmudgeon, but her friends seem to like that about her.




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