Susan Alexander is a Canadian poet and writer living in British Columbia on Nexwlélexm/Bowen Island, the traditional and unceded territory of the Squamish people. Susan’s work has appeared in anthologies and literary magazines throughout Canada, the US, and the UK. She is the author of two collections of poems, Nothing You Can Carry, 2020, and The Dance Floor Tilts, 2017, from Thistledown Press. Her suite of poems called Vigil won the 2019 Mitchell Prize for Faith and Poetry, while some of her other work has received the Vancouver Writers Fest and Short Grain Awards.
Corona
after “A Wreath” – George Herbert
This poem is a virus—I pass it to you. —Dayna Kidd Patterson
A novel virus is the proffered verse to me passed
Which I pass thumb-licked to you, who know all my lapses,
My hacking, feverish lapses, how this mind will sleep
A sleep in isolation be it weeks or months, the time needed.
A tethered time wherein I may die, not live:
For isn’t living lips and kiss, hands interlaced,
A granted interface that curls each into each.
Each held belief, loose. Let me miss that you might live
So shall I live and love to see you past these days
Of passing bells and hand-wash songs and newsfeeds
Who feed us doubt and data, more fear, less faith.
So in faith my poor verse offered may a virus contain.
Clementine Unbound 
So much technical skill required to craft this beautiful poem, that I envision the poet laboring to get the words just right. Which she did, absolutely while making it look “easy.”
The flowing s-sounds and repetition of words from line to line creates a chain that leads the reader through the poem from beginning to end without pause.
I can enjoy this poem on several levels: message, sounds, syntax, and each reading simply adds to my delight in this poem.
LikeLike
Beautiful. It was such a pleasure working on the Spiritual Thread project with you, Susan. If folks would like to learn more about the Spiritual Thread project and hear you read this piece as part of the series, here’s the link to the website: https://othermindpress.wordpress.com/speakeasy/speakeasy-27/
LikeLike