Vox Populi
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Elise Paschen: Two Poems
Letters
Ruby-Throated, she
undaunted, taps the porch screen,
types tiny missives.
~~~
Dahlia Aubade
Devil star
Fear to die
Growing here
In the crook
Of a sleeve
The blue note
Each one tolls
Heavenward
Sky anthem
Root to slip
Knot of rope
Bell so clear
Wake up now
Cut your want
You uproot
Tuber bloom
~~~~
Elise Paschen, an enrolled member of the Osage Nation, teaches in the MFA Writing Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her most recent book is Tall Chief.
Poems copyright 2024 Elise Paschen from her forthcoming book Blood Wolf Moon.
Photograph: Ruby-Throated Hummingbird. Source: American Museum of Natural History.
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Wonderfully spare and deft!
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Elise Paschen manages with a few words to conjure up the magic that was in my heart when I lived with nature as a child.
–Rosmarie Epaminondas (Rose Mary Boehm)
http://rosemaryboehm.weebly.com/https://www.rose-mary-boehm-poet.com/ https://www.rose-mary-boehm-poet.com/* https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR9fygcz_kL4LGuYcvmC8lQ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR9fygcz_kL4LGuYcvmC8lQ
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Such delicate moments in Elise Panchen’s poems… Delicate, and beauty-filled.
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Yes, Elise is a fairly new discovery to me although she’s been publishing for a while. She’s a different kind of poet than I’m used to… enjoying getting to know her song and vision.
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Such unspeakable atrocities haunt our history and beyond. All the more reason to offer tribute to those who find a voice; thanks for the additional info.
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BTW, the title of the movie Killers of the Flower Moon comes from a poem by Elise Paschen. The metaphor of the flower-moon killer didn’t originate with David Grann who wrote the book . It can be found much earlier, including a 2009 poem from Osage poet Elise Paschen titled “Wi’-gi-e.” The verse is told from the perspective of Mollie Burkhart as she recounts the death of her sister, Anna. The poem begins by describing the unsavory circumstances surrounding her death, including the sheriff misattributing it to whiskey poisoning and locals covering up the fact she had a bullet hole in her head. It ends with the passage, “During Xtha-cka Zhi-ga Tze-the, the Killer of the Flowers Moon. I will wade across the river of the blackfish, the otter, the beaver. I will climb the bank where the willow never dies.”
Read More: https://www.looper.com/1424109/killers-of-the-flower-moon-meaning/
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