by Roselle Farr
Ars Poetica
Hole
in a leaf.
Eaten by some
small thing. Hole in a
leaf eaten by me. The colossal
forest brush dense and unforgiving,
me saying hello. A leaf plucked, marked,
scattered. A leaf left in place, marked, like some
small thing had been living on it. I had been living
on it. There are plenty of times when the wind won’t
come out of your ears, the seasonal storm. I know how
to grab. I know how to give. What lives under me crawls
out, shiny face, teeth bared, ready to fight back. Color code
the map in many ways. Pretend to know what you are
standing on. Throw the map away. A picture comes
to mind of when I was a child holding a corn cob
just below my toothy smile—each radiated
reproduction. Protected, burled, I have
been living on this leaf and now
open my mouth
again.
Emily Wolahan is the author of the poetry collection Hinge (NPRP, 2015). Her poetry has appeared in Puerto del Sol, Sixth Finch, Georgia Review, and Oversound. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Anthropology and Social Change (CIIS) and is a Poetry Editor at Tinderbox Poetry Journal. Find her at www.emilywolahan.com.
Roselle Farr is a full time Business Analyst, in her spare time she is an amateur photographer, but has also started to explore the world of abstract painting. She loves being creative and a selection of her photos can be found at her Instagram page – rosellemarie_photos.