Glitter on Horizon        for Kathleen Kenyon

I remember

A woman artist

Many years ago,

Sent me an antique postcard;

It showed scenes by a river,

And beyond the water,

Glitter on horizon.

We had this marvelous dream

Of being artists;

Happenstance of task and heart,

The combining of all things--

Today I engrave dazzling lines,

Cut my drawing of a shell

Into zinc printing plate.

Displaced metal rises

From the groove I make

With my burin,

Becomes shiny spiral

Curling off tool's severe

Point.

Kathleen's antique postcard

Has glitter on Hudson River's

Deepest curve;

It could be a bow of sparkles

To walk upon

Laura Stickney  2025

notes: Antique postcard sent to me by artist

Kathleen Kenyon in 1981. Kathleen was a 

photographer, collage artist, and created 

collaborative art work with her twin sister, 

Colleen Kenyon. Kathleen was a member

of my Graduate Committee at USC in 1978-79. 

 

 

Detritus          for Vilma Mendillo

Single Ginko leaf on stem

Lies fragile under my seat

In physical therapy Waiting

Room.

What a journey leaf's made--

Adhered to someone's shoe

Or wheelchair rim, then left behind

On vinyl floor surrounded

By faux rings of time--

Oh 

Ever-new fossil,

Papery thin

Beside

This tremoured limb,

You've endured calamity,

Outlived monsters--

Laura Stickney 2025

notes:

detritus-- Dead organic material

from ecosystem

Ginko bilboa is the last living

species in the order Ginkgoales,

which first appeared over 290

million years ago

photograph of found Ginko leaf,

2024, by Laura Stickney

 

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