“Spines” by Mary-Alice Thompson
Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Spines” by Mary-Alice Thompson, part of the League’s Fresh Voices program.
Spines
By Mary-Alice Thompson
A woman, snake-backed, carries the world
on her head; her vertebra float on sinewy pads,
spine spirals smooth, bone-blocks dip, hip
see-sawing figure eights, that ouroboros
our first cradle.
Our prescient mother stood
upright on her bony frame,
left her menfolk knuckling behind,
walked face first, eyes forward, baby
nuzzling at her breast. The rhythmic lullaby taught
tiny diaphragms, milk flowed, a small flesh-padded
spine curled near her heart.
On her head she carries blankets,
pots, water, a jug, pestle, and knife,
seeds, swaddling moss,
a cloak, spindle, and wheel,
a loom, a needle, a thread,
a bicycle, leather pumps,
a typewriter, a cellphone,
papers, and her favourite bra,
as she walks across
borders, in an endless
line from then to here.
Copyright ยฉ Mary-Alice Thompson
A former university teacher, poetry editor, playwright, and lawyer, Mary-Alice Thompson (she/her) works in many genres. Her literary and legal sides are braided into her first novel, Pink House, a psychological mystery of memory and reckoning. Poetry, however, will always be her first love. She lives in Kingston, Ontario, on traditional Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee territory.
Fresh Voices is a publication and workshop program created by and for the League’s associate members, curated and edited by Erin Vance.
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