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Marjorie Maddox & Karen Elias

What Monarch Sees on the Way to Milkweed

Like wisp,
pod marvels in the miracle
of momentum and splits the scene,
winging itself whole-heartedly onto wind,
brittle tail navigating the long glide toward horizon just as
floss, transporting seeds, parachutes in
and out of view. O delicate, fleeting
flight, hijacked by gravity
or grace.

black and white photo of two milkweed seed pods suspended in the air on a pure black background — *Milkweed in Flight* by Karen Elias

Still Life of Memory and Plate

In the damp night and dry morning,

the hungry hours, and bloated minutes,

the high rise of the sun pitching itself too early at the streaked window,

whispering all that is held high and holy above the enduring green

of the rain-watered lawn that surrounds and separates

our small brick home with its bright door

from what came before (Could it be so? Could it be real?):

jagged glimmer in the afternoon sun,

shard of memory— clamped in my palm

for the pain of it, gripped,

as I promised myself, to remember

always that other one defiant

outside that other house,

smashing plates against the curb,

as I sped away in the clunky U-Haul

with the rest of the box, Grandma’s best,

to some other life that turned

and turned again,

and walked through our door

and, with the same family china,

set our table, celebrated our small joys,

fed our safe children

not his, not his, not his.

digital rendering of a floral plate on a green placemat attached vertically to a brick wall that is inside a door frame with the door open to the right. old-fashioned wallpaper-like flowers in shades of tan make up the background. — *Open Door with Brick Wall* by Karen Elias

I Wake to Sleep and Take My Waking Slow

–Theodore Roethke, “The Waking”

Hovering, humming, the world lives

above all this. Indigenous. Primordial.

Unposted. Are we walking or flying

through fistfuls of color? Listen. The world

is thrumming above all this

inversion of life. The flash

of chiaroscuro lingers on the eyes.

Touch the strumming air. Hovering,

humming, the world moves through wisps

and wings. Waves gather. Moons recede.

All the while music swells above

this lavender ash of what was,

what still could be. Hovering, humming,

we dream of bleached wishes, remember

the whooshing, the echo of everything

lost. Above all this, the world lives.

Hum what you remember. Don’t

look down.

–after the song “Ethanol Dreams” by Ryan Rose and the photograph Posted by Karen Elias

two gates with square POSTED signs block the entrance to a trail that leads into the woods. the image is in color but the colors have been inverted, swapping light and dark tones and hues to create the effect of a photographic film negative. — *Posted* by Karen Elias

Professor Emerita of English at the Lock Haven campus of Commonwealth University, Marjorie Maddox has published 17 collections of poetry—including How Can I Look It Up When I Don’t Know How It’s Spelled? Spelling Mnemonics and Grammar Tricks (Kelsay Books), Seeing Things (Wildhouse), and Hover Here (Broadstone, forthcoming), as well as the ekphrastic collaborations Small Earthly Space; Heart Speaks, Is Spoken For (both with Karen Elias) and In the Museum of My Daughter’s Mind (with daughter Anna Lee Hafer and others), a 2023 Dragonfly Book Award in photography/fine arts and American Fiction Winner Award in poetry. Maddox also has published a story collection, 4 children’s books, and the anthologies Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania and Keystone Poetry (co-editor with Jerry Wemple, PSU Press). Assistant editor of Presence, she hosts Poetry Moment for WPSU-FM.

@marjoriemaddox
https://www.marjoriemaddox.com

After teaching college for 40 years, Dr. Karen Elias is an artist/activist, using photography to record the beauty and fragility of the world and to raise awareness about climate change. Her work is in private collections, has been exhibited in galleries, and has won numerous awards. She is a board member of the Clinton County PA Arts Council and curates the annual juried photography exhibit. In addition to Heart Speaks…, her collaborations have appeared in many journals, including Valiant Scribe and About Place. Her plays have been chosen by the Climate Change Theatre Action and performed in 8 countries.

Other works by Karen Elias »

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