by Joseph A. Miller
Barefoot Poetess
There is not much I have to offer you, my love—
I am threadbare, travelling light through this
darkness with my knapsack of precious little,
wandering in search of a heart to call home.
I could give you my monastery,
though it is on lease. When winter nips
at the buds of my breasts, nature will come
to cash in on the rent. Enjoy the cornucopia
of now, but love me for more than my hollow husk.
Love the thorny parts of me; they will endure beyond the first
flush of foxgloves. Love my volcanic intensity, splitting open
the earth’s core like a perfectly poached thunderegg,
drenching you with silken yolk. When you hear
the susurrus of verdant fronds, my darling, my cheer-
leader pom poms will quiver your name.
I will give you this poem — and many more.
I will plant my roots in you and call you home.
Paris Rosemont is an Asian-Australian poet and author of Banana Girl (WestWords, 2023), shortlisted for the Association for the Study of Australian Literature’s 2024 Mary Gilmore Award for a first volume of poetry. Paris’s poetry has won a swathe of awards both locally and internationally, including first place in the Hammond House Publishing Origins Poetry Prize 2023 (UK) and shortlisted for the International Proverse Poetry Prize 2023 (Hong Kong). She takes delight in bringing her poetry to life through multi-disciplinary modes of expression, including theatrical performance. Paris may be found on Instagram @msparisrose, Facebook www.facebook.com/parisrosemont or at www.parisrosemont.com.
Joseph A. Miller is an Associate Professor of Art at S.U.N.Y. Buffalo State, where he has taught drawing and painting since 1997. Miller’s work is in numerous public and private collections, and has been shown internationally in Finland, China, Poland and the Czech Republic, as well as across the United States, from Berkeley, California to Cambridge, Massachusetts. His work is represented by Art Dialogue Gallery in Buffalo, NY and West End Gallery in Corning, NY. Artist Website: https://artdesign.buffalostate.edu/directory/joseph-miller.