Irvington, Indianapolis 1959    for Marion Haddow Fall 

It was just the leg of a journey,

Grandma May's long closet

With doors on each end--

She led me through 

Her whitewashed catacomb

To shelving, pulled thin box

From above and lifted lid

to reveal contents.

"Look at this," she insisted--

I saw a brown-toned photograph

Of young woman in velvet dress;

Her dark hair was pinned elegantly

Atop her head. "This is me,"

She exclaimed, "Can you believe

I was ever so beautiful?"

My five-year old self

Awkwardly shook head,

And mouthed the word "no."

I'm May's age now,

And I write this poem for her today--

It was just the leg of a journey,

Grandma May's long closet

With doors on each end--

Laura Stickney  2024

Notes:

photograph of Marion Kirkwood Haddow Fall,

c. 1908

 

Specimens

Lomankus, paleo swimmer,

Loosens its diaphanous sleeve,

Inspects seabed through waters dim;

Jutted with protrusions like eaves.

Paleontologists extract

Gold-bug fossil worthy of thieves.

Pyritized arthropod's intact;

Jutted with protrusions like eaves.

Children crouch on all fours, espy

Pill bugs foraging past leaves

To shale rock; the underside

Jutted with protrusions like eaves.

I cup roly-poly in fist,

Ready bug's nook with weedy sheaves,

Pink petal carpet, tree bark twists,

Jutted with protrusions  like eaves.

Laura Stickney 2024

Notes:

Lomankus edgecombei-- A new arthropod 

species discovered preserved in fool's gold

in state of New York.

pyritized-- Converted into iron pyrite or

fool's gold.

Pill bugs-- Also known as roly-polies, are

terrestrial crustaceans that roll into a

tiny ball when disturbed.

photos-- top, life reconstruction of

Lomankus edgecombei, Xiaodong Wang.

Bottom, Lomankus edgecombei, fossil

preserved in iron pyrite, Luke Parry.

Amulet

My pebble is a leaf,

With quartz in veins not sap.

A finding incomplete,

My pebble is a leaf--

Mandorla with two cracks,

Its geni now released--

My pebble is a leaf,

With quartz in veins not sap.

Laura Stickney 2024

 

Notes: 

amulet--A charm for protection

mandorla--Ancient sacred symbol.

A narrow oval shape tapering to a

point at each end.

geni--Scottish word for genie or

genius.

top image--Antique botanical print. 

lower image--Photograph of pebble

found in Scotland and subject of poem.

                                                                

 

Hunter's Moon

A Hunter's Moon

Is a Mourner's Moon,

Becomes

Celestial cabochon

Tonight:

Amber-hued

And crowded 

With inclusions

Of lost beings--

Each enchambered

As if

In honeyed resin--

Guam's flying fox,

Hunted to oblivion

During war,

Its whistle-thin

Wing spars

Are preserved 

In Tycho's ejecta

Radiant across

Luna hemisphere.

Barbary Lion's

Dark mane

Is silhouetted

On moon's mid-section

As Mare Vaporium;

Sea of Vapors.

The big cat pursued

By sultans was finally

Vanquished

When Algerian forests

Were decimated in war.

Baiji dolphin, palest blue,

Sonared through estuaries,

Ceased to be venerated

As riverine goddess,

Was destroyed in bycatch.

Cetacean skims lunar rilles,

Leaves hint of dorsal fin.

A Hunter's Moon

Is a Mourner's Moon,

Becomes

Celestial cabochon 

Tonight:

Amber-hued

And crowded

With inclusions

Of lost beings--

Rub this orb

With silk;

It will make your hair

Stand on end.

Laura Stickney 2024

Notes:

Hunter's Moon--October's Full Moon.

cabochon--a rounded

gemstone.

amber--a translucent, 

red-orange fossilized tree resin.

inclusions--bits enclosed

within the mass of a mineral.

Tycho--lunar impact crater on

the moon.

Ejecta--material thrown out

from meteoritic impact.

Bycatch--The incidental capture of

non-target species during fishing.

cetacean--dolphin

rilles--trenches on surface 

of moon.

photo of Hunter's Moon from Earth.com

photo of amber cabochon from Rio Grande jewelry

 

Correspondences

Antique spooner arrives

Boxed and wound

In bubble wrap--

I peel away blistered plastic,

A stemmed vessel emerges:

Raised decoration of strawberries

Adorn one curve of goblet,

Blackberries grace adjacent side.

I lift glass to sunlight,

Look through form--

Clear designs layer

Over one another

Like companion plants

In my garden--

Where tall brambles protect

Low-lying red berries,

Heart shaped fruits

Insulate rubus roots,

And each are kin

To the rose--

Laura Stickney 2024

Notes:

Spooner-- 19th century glassware

Rubus--A genus of flowering plants

that includes blackberries

photograph of antique Dalzell & Gilmore

glass spooner, c. 1880, by Laura Stickney

 

Grave Good

Grave robber disinters prize

Near site of Skidi village--

A silver medal,

Engraved with scenes--

                       "Brother, accept this token

                         of our esteem;"

Reverso depicts

Timber scaffolding 

Grim as Saint Joan's,

Built in river valley,

For ritual sacrifice

Of stolen Numunuu girl,

Timed to first sighting 

Of spring's morning star--

                        "always wear it for our sake,"

Disc obverse details

Petalesharro--

Pawnee Chief--rescuing

The terrified captive,

And guiding her to horses

Sequestered near trees-- 

                        "and when you have the power

                         to save a poor woman from death

                         and torture," 

On relic's rim,

Block letters bold 

As needlework sampler,

Proclaim,

TO THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE--

                        " think of this and of us and fly to her rescue."

And arc 

Like sun bow across sky--

Laura Stickney 2024

Notes:

Skidi village--Skidi-- one of four bands

of Pawnee people, near Palmer, Nebraska.

grave good--medal stolen in

1883 from burial site of Chief Petalesharro.

Saint Joan's-- Joan of Arc, 1412-1431. 

"Numunuu" is the Comanche word for themselves, "the people."

Pronounced, "Na-Men-Nah." 

Medal was created by Washington D.C., female 

seminary students to honor Chief Petalesharro for his

rescue of Comanche girl in 1816. Poem's statements in quotation marks

are from letter written by the school girls in 1821--to the Pawnee Chief--

when he was gifted with the medal during his trip to

to meet with President Monroe. 

Sunbow-- an arch resembling a rainbow made by the sun

shining through mist.

images are front and back view's of Chief Petalesharro's medal as found.

   

                    

 

Drift

I've been getting 

Midnight calls

From Robert Falcon Scott,

He and his comrades,

Edward and Birdie,

Died on race 

To South Pole,

Are frozen together

In their tent

And covered

By cross-topped cairn.

Captain Scott tells me

They've started to drift

Even more south,

The ancient ice

That was Antarctica's 

Pilasters,

Is vanishing...

As Scott speaks to me,

He holds precious

Fossil collected 

On Beardmore Glacier;

It's a Glossopteris sprig,

Tree of life from Gondwanaland,

When terrain was sylvan,

And continents locked together

As one.

Laura Stickney 2024

Notes:

Robert Falcon Scott, explorer 

and scientist, led the British

Antarctic expedition in November,

1911. Scott and his comrades--

Dr. Edward Wilson and Lieutenant

"Birdie" Bowers--died in their 

unsuccessful attempt to be the first 

country to plant a flag at the South Pole.

A Norwegian team led by Amundsen 

beat the English team by a month.

Scott, Wilson and Bowers died of 

exposure, starvation and exhaustion

on their way back from the South Pole

in March, 1912.

Glossopteris--Fossils of woody plants

estimated to be 300-200 million years

old. Found first by Robert Falcon Scott.

Gondwanaland-- Large landmass referred to as 

ancient supercontinent. Fossils of Glossopteris 

proved connections between various fragments

of Gondwanaland--S. America, Africa, India, Australia,

New Zealand and Antarctica.

sylvan-- Pertaining to or characteristic  of

woods or forest regions.

photograph of Glossopteris fossil-- Athena Review