Five Poems, by Hannah Emerson
From deep down to high up go inward / for light. Keep drowning keep / growing keep listening
From deep down to high up go inward / for light. Keep drowning keep / growing keep listening
She could not have known that soon after / their baby was born, her husband would die
Whose time in the tangle is so smooth / it feels like swimming, parting the lush green stroke / by stroke?
I learned your language to unbury you ...
Is every bird a kiss incarnate? Its color and character contained?
In my phone in my food in my milk / container, in my thoughts, the mouse, the transparent / window
In these incantatory movements, / everything is on the verge of kindling
How is it that spring comes / early to January, green film / feathering the still-wet rocks
November and the tiny bones / Call for directions.
"You go back to the roots and then what comes out of that experience is shocking, it’s beautiful. And it rarely disappoints me if I approach things like that."