Ars Poetica
Serrina Zou
Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest 2024 (view all the winners)
First Prize, Margaret Reid, Traditional Verse
Illustration by Rowan Fridley
after Chris Colfer / after Chelsea Dingman / after Rachel Mennies
Dear Poem—witness yourself:
a crumpled tissue knotted with tear stains
dipped in ink. In my dreams, I threw
a penny in the only wishing well for miles
& you returned, swimming
with liquid moons. You unspooled
the silk-spun cocoon of caterpillars,
settled into their chrysalis while I erected
cathedrals around you. Among the saints:
lyrics & the spaces between letters
strewn like white lotus petals
down the aisle where you married your paper
-plain immolation. All this time,
I thought I was playing God,
fleshing you from the rib of an idea;
but really I was the subconscious explorer,
raising pirated flags on the shores we sailed.
Selfishly, I wanted you to myself forever—
like the freshwater fish I once lured: scales flaying
against siren's lullabies. But these praising palms know
better than to mask wet shrouds of skin.
Better than to wrestle shipwreck ghosts
for a bone-bright miracle of the past.
Make no mistake. This is discovery,
not creation myth. & this discovery,
a map for all the uncharted lives
our gods have yet to flesh.
I discover you in my better life, not knowing
life is a metaphor for giving birth
to something precious that will die. Not knowing
you will hold my voice long after dark.
