Tree Shadow 30 by Natalie Christensen
OUR LADY OF THE SICK GIRLS
here are the coins we taste on our tongue here is our skin dry peonies
here is rubbing alcohol traumeel selenite vitamin c here is the high
comedy of the hospital bill vial of bad blood here is our body a blister
our body burst open our body sanitized linen our bloodmoon palms
milkbat ovaries thinair breasts teething electric eel oxymusic
cerebellum O Lady of wiltlilies in antihistamine silk counting spoons
by the glow of the internet one paper cut away from madness grant us
this day the energy to go to Trader Joe’s
FINAL WORLD
recurring
You are two people, one
I’ve never met. Fireworks
burn our house down. Nothing
can be saved. I’m on a cliff,
no, my childhood
home, no, I’m kneeling,
dialing the wrong number
over and over trying to order
ice. That’s not food. I know.
I need to nail it to the walls.
Maybe now I understand
love. I come to you
the way a ghost
envelops a sleepwalker, you
decide again for now
not to move away.
About the author:
Sera Gamble‘s poetry has appeared in publications such as The Los Angeles Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, Harpur Palate, Bodega Magazine, Typehouse Literary Magazine, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Birdcoat Quarterly and Reckoning: Creative Writing on Environmental Justice. She is also a prolific writer of film and television. Sera is a first-generation American living in Los Angeles across several parallel dimensions.
In the artist’s words:
Multiple award-winning photographer Natalie Christensen seeks the sublime in ordinary settings. Career highlights: U.S./international museum/gallery exhibitions; feature and cover art Minimalism in Photography (teNeues, 2022); 007 – Natalie Christensen (Setanta Books, London); UAE Embassy culture tour delegate; Artist-in-Residence Chateau d’Orquevaux, France invitee; permanent collections; and features in numerous fine art publications.