“PQRST” by Suzanne Palmer
Contract
the rush, the determined push
of electricity and muscle,
life moves—
breath, wonder, joy, love
rapids, narrows, swell and rock,
rain drums against earth
stars dance through the dust
spinning up planets
push out
Expand
the flow, the pull of change
drawn through veined corridors,
life is—
memory, grief, worry, regret
shallows, tide pools, puddle and lull,
dunes that heed only ancient winds,
nebulas that gather dust of the dead
and begin everything anew
pull back
Beat.
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Suzanne Palmer is a writer and artist who lives in the beautiful hills of western Massachusetts. Her short fiction and poetry has appeared in Asimov’s and other places, and her second novel, Driving the Deep, comes out from DAW in May. |