By Gabriella R. Tallmadge
It begins, this sprawl.
We unwrap from ourselves
for the uprush,
this ripe haw. Low on
the lawn of the brain
until drafted out
of innocence. The ways
we were: wayfarers,
wave-breakers. But how far
out still keeps
true north? We see where
this is headed, no
unsnarling from this
passage. A haul so run
with distance. Hurled
into exodus, every fall
to fall. Yet there is nest
after rasp of exertion,
lactic acid built up plush.
And so with lunar navigation:
washing in the raw pull
of pulsars. So spurred,
so measured, not arrived
anywhere yet. But
we’ll come by way of long
and arduous. This pilgrimage
to pay for allegiance.
Gabriella R. Tallmadge is a Latinx writer and educator from San Diego, California. She is the author of Sweet Beast which won the 2020 Louise Bogan Award for Artistic Merit and Excellence and will be published by Trio House Press in summer 2021. Her poems have previously appeared in The Adroit Journal, Poetry Northwest, Guernica, and The Georgia Review.
Art by Michelle Johnsen, art editor
Michelle Johnsen is a nature and portrait photographer in Lancaster, PA, as well as an amateur herbalist and naturalist. Her work has been featured by It’s Modern Art, Susquehanna Style magazine, Permaculture Activist magazine, EcoWatch.com, EarthFirst! Journal, Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative, and used as album art for Grandma Shake!, Anna & Elizabeth, and Liz Fulmer Music. Michelle’s photos have also been stolen by AP, weather.com, The Daily Mail, and Lancaster Newspapers. You can contact her at mjphoto717 [at] gmail.com.