National Poetry Month : natalie hanna,

 

one day we wake

 

the foot set down misaligned
throws the body to the ground
a little bit forward
into the border of a tomorrow
we do not wish to know 

someone has latched onto this foot
it cannot be said in peril or rescue
no frantic kicks can win back peace
no call can summon help

all that is splendid falls into stasis
on the unobserved forest floor
where you land
in the realm of creatures
blessed with six, or eight, or
a hundred feet
racing about in daily effort 

for the first time
mother spider crawls onto your eye
unmistakeable on the dais
of your smooth closed lid
knocking gently in eight parts
to awaken sight again

get up, o get up
your feet are not yet broken
and today has not expired

  

 

natalie hanna is a queer, Ottawa- born lawyer of Middle-Eastern descent, living with disabilities and working with low income populations. Her writing focuses on intersectional feminism, political, ecological, and personal themes, including racism, violence, identity, and disability. She runs battleaxe press, a small poetry press, encouraging work from a feminist perspective. From April of 2016 to September of 2018, she served as the Administrative Director of the Sawdust Reading Series, and on the board of Arc Poetry Magazine.  She is the author of eleven chapbooks of poetry, including three titles with above/ground press. Her most recent chapbook, infinite redress with Baseline Press was published in the Fall of 2020. A twelfth, collaborative chapbook is forthcoming in the Spring of 2021 with Collusion Books. Her poetry, interviews, and commentary have appeared in print and online in Canada and the United States. Her poem, “light conversation” received Honourable Mention in ARC Magazine’s 2019 Diana Brebner Prize. More information about her literary work can be found online at: https://nhannawriting.wordpress.com.

National Poetry Month : natalie hanna,

washing

in spite of all the damage I've done

to the peaceful night

with my feet on the wooden boardwalk

i hope you will forgive me wanting

someone to hear

if only fish through the lapping waves

that might repeat my message

i would have cried the town

with songs of deep affliction

but it's late and impolite

to bother people in their houses

despite the calamity of affection

that woke me

with dreams of the place

we fall down gently

into the arms of great loves

there's still, indelible, a codex in the hands

full of turning apple cheeks

salted skin

the tang of lipstcked cigarettes -

and if kiss will ever be again

i'll make each one

the cure for exhaustion

ignore my text till morning but

i want to know when you listen

to those albums we used to share

that you remember the grammar

of sighs and stillness

lifting us from common speech

maybe the cipher will be lost

but when we leave, know

that the manner of our going

cannot diminish the legends

of our greatness

i don't know if love is catching

of if you can wash it away

but if we are met tomorrow

with radio silence

please remember i love you

until further notice

natalie hanna is an Ottawa lawyer working with low income populations. Her writing focusses on feminist, political, and personal themes. She was a past Administrative Director of the Sawdust Reading Series and past board member of Arc Poetry Magazine (2016-2018). She is the author of ten chapbooks, including three with above/ground press, with an 11th forthcoming from Baseline Press in the Fall of 2020. Her poetry, interviews and commentary have appeared in print and online in Canada and the U.S. Her poem “light conversation” received Honourable Mention in ARC Magazine’s 2019 – Diana Brebner Prize. For more information, find her at: https://nhannawriting.wordpress.com

National Poetry Month : natalie hanna,

hyacinth and mordant

i.

if you could suspend the days

there would be

long enough to hang

all defunct fears on the line

peer through their sheerness

as much as the imminent

old wounds

iodine and blood stains

remain from the birth

of a firebird

almost worth the trouble

ii.

you asked me is there time

to let the body move

through this thing

and through that

to let the mind

accustom

before

all is fixed

indelible in the

lobes and fissures

of the heaving lungs

iii.

you wanted to be the

aurora borealis

changeable

and looked upon

with favour

but earthbound ask

which end of the stick you're at

punishing the cloth or

the cloth that you have punished

iv.

nothing is impermeable

be patient

fool with the peace

in nests that rest above

the threshing

don't discount the

the steeping and the churning

the promise of a thing

finely ground

the minute clicking of tongues

of those who watch the

fragile white turn livid

you'll get the hang

v.

it's the vinegar that makes it stick

if the wound is fresh

then wait

if wound is young

consider

if the wound is old

forgive it

natalie hanna is an Ottawa lawyer working with low income populations. Her writing focusses on feminist, political, and personal relational themes. she runs battleaxe press (small press poetry). Her poetry, interviews, and columns have featured in various Canadian journals online and and in print. Visit her online to learn more at: https://nhannawriting.wordpress.com/about/