Sensory Overload, Echolocation in for Repairs by Lynn Tait

January 5, 2023
Poem title: Sensory Overload, Echolocation in for Repairs Poet name: Lynn Tait Poem: If I can believe my eyes—it’s late. I can’t visualize this heart pain, or so my woman-clock articulates like a fine-tuned fork chiming beat-ups per minute. Did I hear you correctly? Echolalia’s long drip convulses through imaginary pools. I smell the quack of controversy from here/hear/there, the pitter-patter of its webbed feet, geese in formation honking up the wrong tree makes my ears weep. Heartbreak shows up in this poem: a low frequency ping, a mispronunciation. Its sour stink glides by so close, you cannot not taste it. Odium flails its wings in all directions. Caught in its stone-toothed trap ego feathers up, you stay, me go. Strange echoes touch me. Swans—their love plays on my fingertips. They trumpet a song about a mermaid who learns to swim through fire. End of poem. Credits and bio: Copyright © Lynn Tait This poem was published in the Antler River Poetry contest - 3rd Prize (formerly Poetry London) judged by Phil Hall. Lynn Tait is a Toronto-born poet/photographer residing in Sarnia Ontario, land of the Aamjiwnaang First Nations. Her poems have been published in numerous journals including FreeFall, CV 2, Trinity Review, The Quarantine Review, Literary Review of Canada, Vallum, Wild Word and in over 100 anthologies world-wide. Her digital art and photography has graced the covers of 9 poetry books including the Parkland Poet’s anthology Vol. 4, and is the illustrator, compiler, editor of Ontario Poetry Society’s annual anthology for 2022. She is a member of the The Ontario Poetry Society, Parkland Poets, American Academy of Poets, The League of Canadian Poets, BlueWater Writers and Not-The-Rodeo-Poets. She signed a contract in 2021 with Guernica Editions for her poetry manuscript You Break It, You Buy It.