Lit eZine Vol 4 | p-6 | POETRY | In the Thick of Life

SHORT POEMS

IN THE THICK OF LIFE
by Melanie Hess

A HUMAN TAPESTRY

Copper temple bells ring
in circadian rhythm
stray dogs sleepwalk
wagging tails in devotional verse

I wade into the river 
to wash the clothes 
of a sick child; 
wrapped in bark cloth
she rests in an abalone shell

a bicycle thief with milk tongue pedals past
the basket holds melon and moon fish
he pauses to pick pebbles from hemp slippers

a carver shapes beads of lapis and jade
to drape the neck and wrists of a blind soothsayer
with henna hands and gold-veined teeth

I pull eggs from a nest in my hair
open a jar of mangoes in heavy syrup
and boil mushroom tea

we gather under a Monstera leaf
a human tapestry

THE STORM CHASER

Last week the riverbed cracked 
its veins like autumn leaves
plows and combines idle in fields 
dinosaurs on the verge of extinction

my joints simmer
arms and legs splayed star shaped
in an old plantation rocker
I imagine the wettest place on earth
a scout ant migrates up the kitchen tap
in search of water for the queen 

the sky shifts mood
releasing a peaty potpourri
the squall appears windward

I grab the monkey on my back
we gobble the rain
jabbering whirling eddies 
my skirt swirling like Carmen Miranda