by Carella Keil
Before Singing
For beauty, the end of a vigil—everyone face front,
shirt fronts washed in mild light—has nothing
on the beginning, before the singing, the part
when we stoop, in pairs, over angled tapers. For beauty,
give me the whole quavery operation: the inefficiency
with which, at first, we split and double radiance;
the hundred courtesies that delay the fuse; the candles
sharing a wobble of fire, a flicker that tops
a wax circumflex. Give me the pyres we steeple,
momentum to tremor, between uncertain hands.
Jane Zwart teaches at Calvin University, in the United States, where she also co-directs the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing. Her poems have appeared in Poetry, The Poetry Review (UK), Threepenny Review, Ploughshares, and–once previously–Feral. Her Twitter handle is @_janezwart_.
Carella Keil is a writer and digital artist who splits her time between the ethereal world of dreams, and Toronto, Canada, depending on the weather. Her art has appeared recently on the covers of Glassworks Magazine, Colors: The Magazine, and Frost Meadow Review, and is forthcoming on the cover of Straylight Magazine. Her art has also been featured in Skyie Magazine, Existere, Burningword, Chestnut Review and The Field Guide Poetry Magazine. instagram.com/catalogue.of.dreams twitter.com/catalogofdream