National Poetry Month : natalie hanna,

 

one day we wake

 

the foot set down misaligned
throws the body to the ground
a little bit forward
into the border of a tomorrow
we do not wish to know 

someone has latched onto this foot
it cannot be said in peril or rescue
no frantic kicks can win back peace
no call can summon help

all that is splendid falls into stasis
on the unobserved forest floor
where you land
in the realm of creatures
blessed with six, or eight, or
a hundred feet
racing about in daily effort 

for the first time
mother spider crawls onto your eye
unmistakeable on the dais
of your smooth closed lid
knocking gently in eight parts
to awaken sight again

get up, o get up
your feet are not yet broken
and today has not expired

  

 

natalie hanna is a queer, Ottawa- born lawyer of Middle-Eastern descent, living with disabilities and working with low income populations. Her writing focuses on intersectional feminism, political, ecological, and personal themes, including racism, violence, identity, and disability. She runs battleaxe press, a small poetry press, encouraging work from a feminist perspective. From April of 2016 to September of 2018, she served as the Administrative Director of the Sawdust Reading Series, and on the board of Arc Poetry Magazine.  She is the author of eleven chapbooks of poetry, including three titles with above/ground press. Her most recent chapbook, infinite redress with Baseline Press was published in the Fall of 2020. A twelfth, collaborative chapbook is forthcoming in the Spring of 2021 with Collusion Books. Her poetry, interviews, and commentary have appeared in print and online in Canada and the United States. Her poem, “light conversation” received Honourable Mention in ARC Magazine’s 2019 Diana Brebner Prize. More information about her literary work can be found online at: https://nhannawriting.wordpress.com.