Dreamers
A woman races dusty rows,
deposits bundles of butter lettuce
from the bowls of her arms
into white plastic bins roadside.
Past the burn scar scorched
into the horizon in the thick air
of another fire season,
a small breath of wind kisses
her face silkened in sweat,
cooling down her body
as temples pulse, nose burns,
throat tightens at day’s end
with the ache of the field
pulsing every muscle
as crows eye new seeds
in furrows thirsting for water.
At home her little girl waits
at the open window, elbows
at the sill, hands cupping chin,
her wide eyes pitched upward,
past a cresting sun toward sky
about to darken then fill
the page of night she reads
as stars full of wishes and dreams.
—first appeared in Caesura 2021
Patchwork Dream Pantoum with Wings
Inside walls of sleep we are singing,
honey throated birds bejeweled
beneath the long sigh of sky, then stilled
we dip and land, our song our banner.
Honey throated birds bejeweled
in the soft light of early morning,
we dip and land, our song our banner,
common wrens trilling in dawn’s chorus.
In the soft light of early morning,
hopping along tangles of new branches,
common wrens trilling in dawn’s chorus,
we rouse the day fluttering mottled wings.
Hopping along tangles of new branches,
brood stirring inside flowering vines,
we rouse the day fluttering mottled wings,
tumble notes into the light and the wind.
Brood stirring inside flowering vines
beneath a long sigh of sky, then stilled,
we tumble notes to the light and the wind
inside walls of sleep still singing.
—first appeared in California Quarterly 45:3
Andrena Zawinski, veteran teacher of writing and activist poet, has received awards for lyricism, form, spirituality, and social concern. Her book Born Under the Influence is forthcoming in September 2022. Others are Landings, Something About, Traveling in Reflected Light along with several smaller collections and her recently released book of flash fiction Plumes & other flights of fancy.
A woman races dusty rows,
deposits bundles of butter lettuce
from the bowls of her arms
into white plastic bins roadside.
Past the burn scar scorched
into the horizon in the thick air
of another fire season,
a small breath of wind kisses
her face silkened in sweat,
cooling down her body
as temples pulse, nose burns,
throat tightens at day’s end
with the ache of the field
pulsing every muscle
as crows eye new seeds
in furrows thirsting for water.
At home her little girl waits
at the open window, elbows
at the sill, hands cupping chin,
her wide eyes pitched upward,
past a cresting sun toward sky
about to darken then fill
the page of night she reads
as stars full of wishes and dreams.
—first appeared in Caesura 2021
Patchwork Dream Pantoum with Wings
Inside walls of sleep we are singing,
honey throated birds bejeweled
beneath the long sigh of sky, then stilled
we dip and land, our song our banner.
Honey throated birds bejeweled
in the soft light of early morning,
we dip and land, our song our banner,
common wrens trilling in dawn’s chorus.
In the soft light of early morning,
hopping along tangles of new branches,
common wrens trilling in dawn’s chorus,
we rouse the day fluttering mottled wings.
Hopping along tangles of new branches,
brood stirring inside flowering vines,
we rouse the day fluttering mottled wings,
tumble notes into the light and the wind.
Brood stirring inside flowering vines
beneath a long sigh of sky, then stilled,
we tumble notes to the light and the wind
inside walls of sleep still singing.
—first appeared in California Quarterly 45:3
Andrena Zawinski, veteran teacher of writing and activist poet, has received awards for lyricism, form, spirituality, and social concern. Her book Born Under the Influence is forthcoming in September 2022. Others are Landings, Something About, Traveling in Reflected Light along with several smaller collections and her recently released book of flash fiction Plumes & other flights of fancy.