Denise Rue
My Father Returns as a Black Witch Moth
Brick Layer, Molasses Man, Oak,
You've returned! Restless soul who rested,
Last night, beneath my bed. Sorrow Moth,
Duppy Bat, have you come to do me harm?
No, no! I need not sit on a Bible,
Jump three times over fire.
You flew to my bedside, as you did in life,
Wings tattered by your long flight,
Powdered by my prayers. Drab Navigator,
My Compass, who thought you'd lodge
In such a dusky husk, fine-spun and lusterless?
Bear me soft-boiled eggs and soldiers, our favorite
Fairy tale. Promise piggy-back and pinochle.
North star me. Anchor me in the myth
Of my grit and pluck. I am unmoored here.
Hear your masked and hapless girl: Stay.
I will bring you the flesh of fallen fruit,
Sap from stands of acacias, mesquite.
I will sweep the house at night,
Anoint myself with the blood of roasted goats.
Wink and whistle, harbinger my happiness.
Will me a little love for I am sorrow-staggered.
My Brown Father, Ghosted Host of childhood,
Lead Line of our lineage, Pilot of my past:
Stay.
Denise Rue's poems have been published in Poet Lore, Paterson Literary Review, Inkwell, Alimentum and Miller's Pond, among other literary journals. She received her MFA in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College in 2003 and has taught poetry in schools, nursing homes and a women's prison. She lives in Jamaica and works as a retreat leader and psychedelic integration coach at a legal psilocybin retreat.
Return to March 2021 Edition
Brick Layer, Molasses Man, Oak,
You've returned! Restless soul who rested,
Last night, beneath my bed. Sorrow Moth,
Duppy Bat, have you come to do me harm?
No, no! I need not sit on a Bible,
Jump three times over fire.
You flew to my bedside, as you did in life,
Wings tattered by your long flight,
Powdered by my prayers. Drab Navigator,
My Compass, who thought you'd lodge
In such a dusky husk, fine-spun and lusterless?
Bear me soft-boiled eggs and soldiers, our favorite
Fairy tale. Promise piggy-back and pinochle.
North star me. Anchor me in the myth
Of my grit and pluck. I am unmoored here.
Hear your masked and hapless girl: Stay.
I will bring you the flesh of fallen fruit,
Sap from stands of acacias, mesquite.
I will sweep the house at night,
Anoint myself with the blood of roasted goats.
Wink and whistle, harbinger my happiness.
Will me a little love for I am sorrow-staggered.
My Brown Father, Ghosted Host of childhood,
Lead Line of our lineage, Pilot of my past:
Stay.
Denise Rue's poems have been published in Poet Lore, Paterson Literary Review, Inkwell, Alimentum and Miller's Pond, among other literary journals. She received her MFA in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College in 2003 and has taught poetry in schools, nursing homes and a women's prison. She lives in Jamaica and works as a retreat leader and psychedelic integration coach at a legal psilocybin retreat.
Return to March 2021 Edition