Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “maps” by Grace Goudie.

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maps

By Grace Goudie

mornings like these, i thank the creator for your calloused fingers tracing maps across my back. you

outline the islands your uncles taught you to name when the summer heat beat memories into skin; the

crust of Turtle Island, the dips and curves of home. when i make my own maps against your body, my

lines lay uncertain; question marks on the rugged coastline of your spine, jutting unknowns across your

shoulder blades. how unromantic it may seem that where you have stories, i have speculations souring

my dreams. but you make my ignorance inconsequential when you press your palm gently to my

stomach, drawing me closer to your warmth. the burgeoning buds of spring’s willows, your wispy half-

grown braids, tickle my neck as they lay splayed across my pillow. you are a soft reminder of reclamation;

the past can never wholly be mine, but you bear testimony that the future is ours in the making.

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Copyright © Grace Goudie

Previously published in -muit zine.

Grace Goudie (she/her) is a 19-year-old poet of Nunatsiavut Inuk descent who has roots all across the land now called Canada. She feels most at home where the shore meets the water. Her work has appeared in -miut zine, Horseshoe, Reverie Magazine, where meadows, and The Encore Poetry Project Anthology In Dialogue.

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