Alice and the Chinese Jar 2

We have three more poems from the recent Twitter poetry party. All the prompts were taken from Neruda’s Memoirs: Poems by Maureen Doallas.

By @mmerubies, @Dancinbutterfly, @LoveLifeLitGod, @llbarkat, @doallas, @lauraboggess and @jejpoet. Edited by @gyoung9751.

Pure Water Pulled

Pure water pulled
up from the dark
tomb of earth
turns to crystal
under the sun,
settles to azure
when poured
into this vase.
Accidental water
pours from the jar
blue like the hollow
echo of a new-hewn
tomb.
I stand in the ocean
and the waves
overtake me.

Silver Fish

Remove ocean’s
scrim,
let silver fish
like lanterns
light the way.
And on the hills
waves of silver fish
overtake me.
Water is air
to the silver fish,
but death to me,
lingering long.

Mermaids fair,
overtake me,
locks of roses
making wake.
And the mermaids,
they too swim
the hills, their
hearts unsteady
while they wait
for dreams to unfold,
their hearts worried
thin by worry.

Stella

Of all my dead relatives,
why is it usually Stella
who shows up in my brain?
Stella who screamed,
who made her son feel
accidental, her happiness
swimming past her like
silver fish, slipper scales,
useless in the hills. She is
sweeping the dirt yard
of my mind, Stella with her
wooden broom, a witch.

I keep waiting, Stella,
star from before my birth,
I keep waiting on you.
Stella, your name means star,
but you put the lanterns out
and hid behind Jehovah’s name.
You carry a lantern and the fish
like stars of roses,
waking me to another
dream, thin as an element we
cannot see, a thread that breaks,
the line separating you from me.

And I loved her.