What is the Body by Hannah Dow
if not a nest
indiscernible like a plover’s
shallow hole in sand
lined with shell,
untouchable like a woodpecker’s
mine in a tree’s soft patch.
If not a verb, a being, the way
a pregnant woman
who arranges her home
in the weeks before delivery
is said to be nesting.
How it gathers
everything to itself—
history, windows, warmth.
If not a hive, the bee’s boundless
enter and egress,
then a mountain
thought to be a mountain:
what the magma won’t miss
when it finally erupts.
To learn more about Hannah Dow, visit her website by clicking here.
This poem comes from Rosarium
Or, you can buy it directly from Acre Books by clicking here.
Below is a sample of Nicola Mason’s (editor of Acre Books) wonderful collage work. You can see more at her website by clicking here.
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