"Flora Fauna Marta" by Nam Das
Walking Maple Hill by Abbie Kiefer
He asks again about the words on the rocks.
Twice I’ve explained from behind the stroller
and he’s understood my boy is bright
but he wants to hear the strangeness resaid:
that bodies stop being
that we bring them here.
--
I brought him here
for cracked macadam that rarely carries cars
for the sun-shelter of trees thick
as a hundred years
but I regret it now.
This stroller rolls so easily.
I’ve walked us to the middle of acres and acres.
--
My bright boy loves letters wants to know
the names:
Jeremiah Elizabeth
Naomi soft with moss
Esther
Samuel rough fissure running through
Sarah beloved of Edward Wentworth obelisk
sharp as a spade
Judith two Sharons three rows apart
Steven Barbara burst
of geraniums
Mark his widow Mary the hill
tries to take the stroller from my hands
Cam ragged
teddy bear wind-bullied balloon half-circle of silver pinwheels
clicking
clicking throwing light in wild shards.
Twice I’ve explained from behind the stroller
and he’s understood my boy is bright
but he wants to hear the strangeness resaid:
that bodies stop being
that we bring them here.
--
I brought him here
for cracked macadam that rarely carries cars
for the sun-shelter of trees thick
as a hundred years
but I regret it now.
This stroller rolls so easily.
I’ve walked us to the middle of acres and acres.
--
My bright boy loves letters wants to know
the names:
Jeremiah Elizabeth
Naomi soft with moss
Esther
Samuel rough fissure running through
Sarah beloved of Edward Wentworth obelisk
sharp as a spade
Judith two Sharons three rows apart
Steven Barbara burst
of geraniums
Mark his widow Mary the hill
tries to take the stroller from my hands
Cam ragged
teddy bear wind-bullied balloon half-circle of silver pinwheels
clicking
clicking throwing light in wild shards.
Abbie Kiefer’s poems are forthcoming or have appeared in The Cortland Review, Booth, december, The Penn Review, and other publications. Find her online at abbiekieferpoet.com.
Nam Das (Filipino, b. 1989) creates open-ended visual stories by arranging figurative elements into an assemblage forming a central idea, an idea that plays around Jungian archetypes of the collective unconscious or mythologems observed throughout history. He uses a limited palette of four colors in his oil paintings. Also called the Zorn palette, it's composed of: Titanium White, Cadmium Red, Yellow Ochre and Ivory Black. Nam began working as a full-time painter in 2019.
