(untitled)
art by Nawmi Manaam
by Phyllis Peter
Anything can get precious really quick.
Except helium—too much of it
in the universe, so no one mentions it. We’ll never
use it all. The question
Is
What should we feel?
Color already structures the world, the uniqueness of each moment there
for the taking—we are beings who want. Fear never enters into it.
Like rain, where everything quickens
by itself. Or used to.
Naturally, if I recall. Lately,
it’s more like a churning.
Artificial, now that you
mention it.
Someone’s brought a sea cucumber up the beach. I feel too amazed
to run. Even its spikes are squishy. It’s sitting quite still, just for me.
Behind it, the shallows where it lives
are churning. That’s because tides are unstoppable.
Fear is their hymn, if you listen.
Phyllis Peters is a poet, author, and playwright whose credits include POETRY Magazine, THE LONDON MAGAZINE, COLUMBIA JOURNAL, COLORADO REVIEW, articles on poetry in culture, and events such as The Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival and the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference, among numerous others.
Nawmi Manaam is an artist from Bangladesh. She loves to
experiment with different mediums and styles of art. Her artwork “Is
it too good?” was featured in The New York Times as one of the winners
of the “Growing up with AI” contest. Her art pieces were also published in New Ohio Review, Grub Street Literary Journal, 3Elements Review, Belladonna’s Garden and others.
