Mother’s Heart as Incandescent Lightbulb

For too long I allowed this heart to be a porchlight,
standing sentinel, always on, even in the glare
of day. It blotted out anything else I could be,
casting me in the role of a lighthouse or the sun.
For a long time, I didn’t even notice,
the light came naturally and I loved what I saw,
children growing and tussling and changing
as day swallowed night and night absorbed day.

When my light eventually gave out the first time,
someone stood on a chair, swapped in a new bulb,
made sure I couldn’t step away. When it happened
again I began to wonder if I could be something else.
I started to consider what it would feel like to stand
in the circle of my own light, uninterrupted, alone.

The Art of Distraction

Such an alien being
the common octopus —
extravagant appendages,
nuanced intelligence,
Houdini-like prowess.

I’ve never swum in her waters
but I know them – clear, splendid,
yet full of dangers. It’s easy
to think the sweet part will go
on and on and on, until

hunted by a determined shark
amongst the swaying kelp,
she does the strangest thing.
Drops to the sea floor,
scoops a clutch of clamshells

and fans their curved iridescence
into a ramshackle dome
designed to dissemble.
A perfect hall-of-mirrors
disguise created on the fly.

Studying her genius
I see something of myself
in the endless improvisation.
My days spent spinning plates,
busy, creating distractions.

As though my twirling
might dissuade death
from looking my way too soon.
See how busy, how needed I am?
In truth, that same busyness

is also a protection from
being asked to do more.
Oh, to be needed a little less,
but not so little that death might
consider me low hanging fruit.

The striped heft of the shark
swings into view, circles round
and round. We drop our crockery
and swim, as though this is a game
we could keep playing forever.

Dagne Forrest’s poetry and creative nonfiction have appeared in journals in Canada, the US, Australia, and the UK. In 2021 she was one of 15 poets featured in Canada’s “Poem in Your Pocket” campaign. Learn more at dagneforrest.com.