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POETRY

The Spaces Between
by E. Cate Cameron

Bridging the spaces between
A causal nexus 
Tending heart and mind 
Curiosity begs conversation and 
Sorrow invites sharing 
From the quiet place 
Seeking peace, understanding, and resolution. 

Making me laugh over coffee
And the things I don’t know 
So many things 
Passing the wings and the chocolate 
Sculling through time 
I am left to wonder about your thoughts and feelings 
Sometimes more than I do my own. 

But my head is wild with books 
My DNA with adventure 
Scanning the next horizon 
Forever caressing the wind rose. 
But you,
You were set in place by glaciers 
Steady as Polaris 
Your sculling a guide. 

Acting the fool
I wanted you to think I was amazing 
Yet you stuck with me 
in weakness and anger 
Igniting humility 
Your peace and wisdom drawing me  
Like a moth to your flame.

With the bioluminescence of your strength 
In the spaces between
The universe is less mysterious 
Stars shine brighter 
Uncertainty is safer 
Nesting into the foundation of familiarity
As the black-capped chickadee lands.

Samhain and natal days at our door 
The air crisp with woodsmoke 
The sun is now indifferent 
Giving away to the moon
Longing for a dip in the lapping waters 
Avoiding mosquitos
Neither of us will leave this place unchanged. 
​

Decolonizing Feminism
by E. Cate Cameron

​A ship on the sea
Without a natal port.
No longer the captain.
He built the walls
Which ceased to exist
In the ebb and flow,
Or doesn’t he know?
A selkie cannot be tamed.

A colonized failure,
Displaced on the map of our fathers,
Seeping, seething Jezebel
Burning down walls
Breaking free from the patriarchy.

Blinding passion,
Mesmerising,
Vowing to never leave.
Awaiting and praying,
Sifting through broken promises
On foreign shores.

Insatiable longing,
Another earnest display.
Metamorphosis of the roots
That weave and bind and tie.
Crying out, “am I not the earth?”

A narcissist’s unrequited longing
Of luan synchronicity
Darwin’s bailiwick
Transmitted through the stones
Of ancestral souls.

Sacrificial?
An impregnable cath.
Stalled domestication,
Feigned shame
And diminutive failure.
The cailleach are in flames,
Drowning.

But softer was suffocating,
Piercing
Rushing mortality
Like the wide-eyed fawn.
An irresistible beauty
Rising from within the terror.
And before the strike,
The selkie sings.



Soul Mate Earth
by E. Cate Cameron

​
I taste your words 
Like earthy morels in garlic and butter
Foraged from an Island forest 
And sun kissed figs from that tree in Lagos 
Juice dripping onto the sand 
Gently, gracefully, 
Warm, sticky, smooth 
Like your shadow emerging from the surf. 

I taste your words 
Like toes dipped into the Irish sea 
Inhaled, kissed, savoured
Salty on your lips 
Reminiscent of Bowie’s lost love 
His letters to Hermione drifting down from above the cove. 

I taste your words
Like philosophy, politics, art, and sex. 
Heidegger you said? Or was it Hume? 
Stars carrying us across the Southern sky. 
Dreaming of divine perfection 
Becoming breath, blood, and soul in the Atacama desert. 

I taste your words 
Like light stitching the universe together. 
An intimate dance
Hovering, daring to touch 
Breath just out of reach 
Like fruit from the forbidden tree
Unattainable? 
Perhaps. 

I taste your words 
Like a burning church
Failed institutions and crushing expectations 
Our eyes echoing the duet of our ancestors 
Icelandic waters, 
Piercing, hiding
An impenetrable Viking fortress. 

I taste your words 
Like burnt sugar crème brûlée 
Plunging my tongue into the creamy centre
Extinguishing the flames and 
Surpassing the rhythm of my human pulse 
French jazz on Manhattan streets 
Resonating, intoxicating 
Like whisky from a Jura bog.

I taste your words
Like acidic notes of Oregon pinot 
And piri-piri prawns flambéed at Petisco’s 
While we watch the waves crash and recede
On our secret Portuguese beach. 

I taste your words 
As the world burns 
Bequeathing conflict and a hot planet
Empty coffers for our children 
Women’s rights stolen in the night 
And a soul mate’s ongoing demise 

I taste your words 
As the world burns 
and they sustain me. 

Even the Lions Fear Her
by E. Cate Cameron

Arriving on autumn’s wings
She will rake and gnash
Like a dragon with emerald eyes
Squeezing your heart and throat
Seeping deep into the chasm
Of your primordial ocean.

Her claws will pierce and seize
Your banal existence  
Cutting swaths of the horizon
Rescuing your fears and dreams from
Reflecting the light of the moon and
Burning the canvas of time.

From your ribs she’ll take a bone
And with one shallow breath
She will sear your presence from her soul story
Razing the acacia
And the houses built with many hands.
Even the lions fear her. 

Possibilities
by E. Cate Cameron
​
Steel and stone 
Stretching towards the sky
Peeking around one another 
To meet the sun 
Reflecting the energy and anticipation 
Of the city 
Buzzing just below the surface 
Standing tall to greet this day 
Striding into all that is possible 
Brandishing your inescapable confidence 
And honest soul
With coffee
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  • Home
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