ataraxia vol.5
DESCRIPTION
Contributors. Jason Heroux Sam Alex Laura Eppinger Colin Honnor Zamira Rahim.TRANSCRIPT
Like a Bandage
by Jason Heroux
Like a bandage
the red traffic l ight
keeps changing
the red traffic l ight
keeps changing
and changing
l ike a bandage
on some wound
the red traffic l ight
keeps changing
Ceci N'est Pas Une Poem
by Sam Alex
You and I shook hands under a sunburn sky
and agreed to move me, pedicured by worms off the
lawn.
I grabbed at my own hands, felt the friction of fruitless
labour,
you eye my sense of commitment; this spade is a spade-
is a blade, good for digging graves in an August shade.
My grandfather was a horticulturist, I am a
conversationalist-
as I ’m pull ing spare roots, making space for my boots.
I l ift myself a rag doll and gently let myself pass-
l ike a moment,
l ike the calm before the storm.
This is because I asked;
How good is your heart?
I ’ve a lab coat, a grocery mart scale,
and I weighed the bulk of it to no avail .
I t was an empty thing, made anorexic by a ring.
Did we not agree to rob banks and liquor stores?
when we’re gunned down behind our car doors?
and we’d take poison and asps,
and wear the same identical rib-
the one I feel now, crushed by your infidel ity.
But you are my valve you say, pig part,
we shall bury you too
and so we made a move of me-
me, where I lay- where I col lapsed,
and swallowed the past, taste of ash.
Our love is trash, an unrecyclable truth
that brought us no use.
Let’s haunt ourselves, the guilt is addictive,
a séance for some sycophants.
Let’s take aim at us,
hunt ourselves down in foxless forests,
I married you for this.
Francisco
by Laura Eppinger
Francisco Hernandez, seven
years old and a saint, I pray
he never changes.
One child has a tantrum
over snack choices, Cisco
administers a plush sea turtle. The storm
passes quickly. His stuffed squids
passed around the room, running
tentacles over train tracks, peeking dark
eyes out of Lego towers. I ’d offer
up anything to know that Cisco wil l
have a life so ful l of adventure.
No one soothes l ike Cisco, the
outcast kids, the biters, the criers,
the ignored. A bright figurine moves
from one set of brown
hands to another—an iguana, a macaw,
a marmoset, a tree frog—miracles,
al l . Before you can say abracadabra,
the tears melt away, as if unwept
and the kids who just can’t focus, play.
I want to tel l him, Thank You,
for being so just, but
Cisco is busy beneath
the sea (underneath a table) and
I won’t pul l him back to the classroom,
no, not yet.
The Windhover
by Colin Honnor
Sparrowhawk hovering bow
fly mica hovers amber bead
waterboatman cruise serendipitously
of his blowsy meniscus
stone drops to ripple, its wrinkled
ammonite back is a flanged
frog nubbed for adaptation
as we observe the blind wingedbolt
fly dazzled into doubleplated glass
Guides that falcon, instinct, to fl ight
an egret summer in so vivid blue
sings of its fruiting, hawk above thorn tree
l ike a flaw in lapis lazul i
so that we thought there could never be
a sky to over blue in Mary’s colour
the hawk unbridled veers, vectors down
towards that rustle in stubble
above the stooked field
plucks the white heart from the blue heart.
THE BRIDAL LAMENT
by Zamira Rahim
Intimacy’s l iquid tragedy, seeping
viscous kohl adornment.
Soul wrapped at cusp with ma’s fi l igree veil
grand mater’s once; bought then beyond
virginal dawn unrelated to mark gleaming
upon collarbone. Begin -
a drunk boxed out of Delhi,
pawning twenty carat bangles for sampling claret
and cobalt, sweet of Eid. Middl ing -
father dearest. Sl ightest enunciation upward
compell ing maternal feet
to run; voice fi l l ing physical ity’s crevice.
Babe traced some invisible bruise,
a kiss into psyche.
And in the low light conspire
to spring a husband upon
prodigal, proverbial Nineteen.
The ell ipses of stories own
muffled by thought of blue moon reputation5
so conclude with me the coward,
jaundiced eyes and jasmine hair prostrated
within bloodl ine trap.
Burn out al l stars, scorch breeze ‘ti l si lvered.
Listen. Hearts keen anew.
Ataraxia is a monthly zine organized, edited,
and printed by Rasasvada. We publish various
projects online and in limited paper copies.
Find more poems, stories, articles, art
and info about submitting your own work
at rasasvada.net
thanks for reading,
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