By Cian PierceFrom this week on, I will be sharing a poem from each of the poets in the list above. This isn’t to say that you can’t still submit your own work though, there is more than enough space to include everyone! This week’s featured poem is ‘The Tale of the Vulnerable’ by Ashley O’Neal from her book The Wren Is Near.
The Tale of the Vulnerable
The line at the beginningOf the old tale comes from the lipsOf the beggar king as he waitsIn the doorway of old myth,His crown beside him is all rusted and worn.
The day breathes a sadness andA wonder that only children of old know.The rhythm of footsteps holds the marchOf men who trampled on the wildflowersOf spring but, among the sounds, a bell rings so quietly.She is there;She is there with eyes of love that humility tempers.
Prayers are made with each footstep.Mantras are chanted by the smile that leaves the lips.Surrender is a storm that never comesAnd the cracks in the sidewalk are the tunesFor the ballads that keep getting sung in glensWhere the desolate houses still breathe.
Off and away the farmer is walkingHis dog to oblivionAs the rosary of existenceIs said by the hands of the last fires.
What will the tale be when the old manOf the mountains passes silently into the mist?Who will hold the soft hands of the ancient knowledgeWhen the alarm of emptiness rings above the city’s sorrow?
Tragic days without rainI want to tell you the new tale but my heartDoes not know the way to the pass where innocence resides.Tell me how to whisper to the king so I mightShow him where to drink from the well that renews.
Show me how to meetThe soft doe of the woods so that I mightRun with the warrior and stand with the womanWho rules the city where the crystal guards the threshold.
Tell me how to live with the ancient son whose tribeKnew how to preserve the gentle star at the end of the worldFor only now do I know what the beggar king tells with his eyes.
Book Recommendations‘Iron Widow’ by Xiran Jay Zhao, is a young adult sci-fi fantasy novel that blends Chinese pre-colonial history and mechas, as if Pacific Rim had met The Handmaid’s Tale. The book also includes an actual love triangle which makes for some great polyamorous and queer representation.“The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often die from mental strain. When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labelled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead. To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.”