2022 Issue > Poetry > Reflecting
"Corbel and Joe Pye Weed, 2021, acrylic on camouflage fabric, 34 x 26 inches”
by Richard Moninski
Reflecting
Hannah Duffield
I touch your memory like
A rippling pool
Breaking through the surface
To a light-bathed haze
Of a warm summer day
Feeling the sun’s embrace
And your glowing eyes
Shining down on me.
I try to shake the feeling of
Your arms around me
Sturdy roots to grip
And pull me, centered
As I pour my worries
Out to you
Like leaves falling from
The red autumnal trees.
I try to smooth the jagged edges
Of my memories like
Warming up my frozen hands
Stiff from feeling the ice
Melting back to life
The way I wish things had been
And leaving only
The thing that was.
I think of myself now
Like a robin returning
The first sighting of the breed
In the beginning of spring
Flying back to who I was
Meant to be without you.
I only wish that I had seen
The person who would emerge
When you crushed me like
A still-blooming flower
Confronted with a
Careless lawn mower
Cut down before her prime.
I only wish I had put
Some sunscreen on before
I jumped into your blinding
Light and brilliance
A facade of warmth and comfort
Only to burn my skin
And marr my soul.
I only wish I had noticed
The change in the leaves
And the warning signs
That something more was coming
Despite how I tried to hide
And how I ran to beat
The unchanging turn of the earth.
I only wish I had known
How the ice would consume you
Nothing left for me to take
And nothing left for you to give
But cold indifference
And a snowy demeanor
And a layer of permafrost in my heart.
I only wish I had been the first to say Goodbye.
Hannah Duffield is a sophomore at UW Platteville majoring in Forensic Investigation. She has been passionate about writing for as long as she can remember and dreams of publishing a novel one day. When she isn't writing, she is found baking or dancing. She can type 85 words per minute.
Trained as a painter, Richard Moninski makes work that explores the systematization of nature, the decorative impulse, the choices between representation and abstraction, and the history and culture of specific places. His paintings and drawings have been exhibited nationally. He resides in Mineral Point, WI.