"Aloe" by Larissa Monique Hauck
Ode to the Strand of Hair Found on the Page of the Library Book by Renee Emerson
(Not mine) fine,
straight, pencil-line
gray, lost to the page,
you must’ve bent close
to read that phrase
a second time.
Page nine, end of stanza,
where the stag, unbelievably,
returns to the wood
unscathed, and the poet
decides there is more
light than darkness.
I’ll leave you there.
Gentle arch, clinging
to places no words touch.
straight, pencil-line
gray, lost to the page,
you must’ve bent close
to read that phrase
a second time.
Page nine, end of stanza,
where the stag, unbelievably,
returns to the wood
unscathed, and the poet
decides there is more
light than darkness.
I’ll leave you there.
Gentle arch, clinging
to places no words touch.
Renee Emerson is the author of the poetry collections Keeping Me Still (Winter Goose Publishing 2014), Threshing Floor (Jacar Press 2016), and Church Ladies (Fernwood Press, forthcoming 2022). She lives in the midwest with her husband and children.
Larissa Monique Hauck is a queer visual artist who graduated from the Alberta University of the Arts in 2014, where she received a BFA with Distinction. Her artwork has been featured in multiple regional and national group exhibitions as well as a growing number of international exhibitions. She has been selected for inclusion in events such as Nextfest 2018 (Edmonton, AB), Nuit Rose 2016 (Toronto, ON), and the 9th Annual New York City Poetry Festival 2019 (New York, US). Her drawings and paintings have also been featured in publications such as Creative Quarterly (US), Wotisart Magazine (UK), Minerva Rising (US), and various others.
