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MAYDAY magazine

January 9, 2020 Poetry

The Hazards – Jane O. Wayne

THE HAZARDS

by Jane O. Wayne

I must wait while the sugar melts…
Henri Bergson

 

Every few steps on the dunes, she loses
her foothold––slipping, climbing again.
Too occupied to look back.
The beach. The waves. Every particle in motion.

She has ridden a horse that would not stop
cantering when she pulled the reins;
hands clenched, she still holds on––
her own body running away from her.

Coming home, she closes the door
behind her, slides the bolt
into the latch, as if a lock could
keep her safe, keep out momentum.

Lightning strikes or a bridge collapses:
such dangers happen elsewhere.
Then on the lawn––what a fence
cannot keep out––a goshawk mantling a pigeon

until only a few feathers remained.
Perhaps the next phase is no more
than fabric thinning at the knees, the elbows.
A pear left to ripen too long.

Sometimes at night she searches
for the blank spaces on old maps
before cities and highways
filled the land, those uncharted territories:

prairies and virgin forests she has only heard about.
A place to start over. Slow down.
But first learn patience, learn to wait

while the sugar dissolves.

 

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Categories: Poetry Tags: Jane O. Wayne

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Meet the Editors

EXECUTIVE EDITOR David Bowen cofounded MAYDAY Magazinein 2009. His work has appeared in The Literary Review, Colorado Review, Flyway, Serving House Journal, and elsewhere. He completed a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and an MFA at ...

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Welcome to MAYDAY Published by New American Press, MAYDAY Magazine presents new poetry, fiction, nonfiction, translations, commentary, and visual art to an international community of readers. We hope that you enjoy the current issue. Feel free to browse the back issues, too, and let us know your thoughts. The Editors ...

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