“If the cosmos was spinning, then every flower was a knot. Either tie yourself to the doorknob, or get out of the house.” by Jonathan Bessette
Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “If the cosmos was spinning, then every flower was a knot. Either tie yourself to the doorknob, or get out of the house.” by Jonathan Bessette, part of the League’s Fresh Voices program.
If the cosmos was spinning, then every flower was a knot.
Either tie yourself to the doorknob, or get out of the house.
By Jonathan Bessette
Shifting roses in bed, you elbowed my
tossing in evenings of summer heat
Napping in midday
thorns, conversation
became the blade to nip
edges—borders—boundaries—breath
Wait! my bouquet of daylight, my
deadly nightshade, come back
When I found you in the nook with my
signed vinyl of Keith Jarret’s Koln Concert
plated with wildflowers, fragments in
your laughing mouth; Oh, um, ah, is
that the last of the maple syrup?
Nighttime tension brought us to clay courts,
to bounce Echo and Narcissus with antiquated rackets
Net side conferences led you to bite my thumbs up
Teeth marks remain
petals of a faithful scar
Scalding drafts of chamomile
and handfuls of melatonin
finally soothed us to sleep
Dreams tried to pull us with daisies
into the origami of lost innocence
love—me—nots inevitably woke us
But over there, the heads
of black dahlias followed
the arc of sun, rising
These disrupted cycles, drew
us from constellations into a
wreath of daily unspoken, which
gave birth to these poems, seeds
of a sunflower, kept us spiraling
Copyright © Jonathan Bessette
Jonathan Bessette is a hobby astrologer, gamer, gardener, and anarchist. He lives in the unceded and traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, səl̓ilwətaɁɬ, and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nations. He’s a founding member of Held Magazine and published writing in The Antigonish Review, Adbusters, and The Capilano Review.
Fresh Voices is a publication and workshop program created by and for the League’s associate members.
Subscribe to Poetry Pause, or support Poetry Pause with a donation today!