Phoenix
– Poem by Shannon Bruyneel –
This is the great unhappening.
If a tree falls in the woods
if no one is there to hear
if your only child dies
a mother unmothered.
You sold the van.
They are going to set your baby on fire.
You do not believe in graves
wear him instead around your neck
so when you find yourself
on a mountain, or by chance at the ocean
you’ll leave a part
until he is all in the world
and nowhere all at once
you wait for a phoenix
but nothing rises
About the Author – Shannon Bruyneel
Shannon Bruyneel has loved to write for her entire life. She is a graduate of the Literary Arts Programme at Canterbury High School in Ottawa, and holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Saskatchewan. She has lived in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and now makes her home on Prince Edward Island. Her writing is informed by space and sense of place, as well as family and memory. Shannon and her husband have three children, an elderly dog, and eleven tropical fish.
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