Listen

Description

"this is not a poem (exactly)"

Tess Ezzy

this is not a poem (exactly)
but a leaf-fall of words unclaimed—
(dear dirt) how softly you
listen

and when wind folds the gumtrees into
parentheses (yes)
what survives is
breath—

a syntax of birds unsinging
        •       

meanwhile:
Calla walks thru rain’s lowercase
and writes a cloud into her pocket
(a sentence of dew)

Orion maps stars in the dark of the page,
his footnotes wet with ash
        •       

don’t say hope,
say root
don’t say beauty,
say scar

climate speaks in fracture—
in murmur,
in shiver,
in wait
        •       

the fire is (still) coming
but
so is
poem

(and what’s the difference,
really?) 

More from Tess Ezzy ↓

You can listen to me read Cross Roads by Tess @rembrandts.cure on Instagram.

Mentioned in this episode:

Join the mailing list to be the first to know when OPO submissions open ⬇️

🖋️ Read My Newsletter: Free Flow 🖋️