Above Ground
I was an accident
that happened one afternoon
after some kind of war
or a sea journey
I am still a girl
You are still a girl
My mother when she was 80 said
‘I am still 18’
She was lucid as wind stars and sea
as heather in a glen
I am unbalanced under
the sign of balance
What does that tell me about signs
I am a bowl, empty full empty
I am the water in the bowl
cold hot disturbed
tainted clear
I am an imprint on the air
or the floorboards
Animals still follow me
I am not an old line
I am no older than the place
of any body, any air, any bowl or bird
any sea
I want you to rock me
back and forth
and then back again from old
I am not a memorial
though I am made of stone
just like the universe
dust forever being born
It’s raining in the cemetery
I am above ground
wet crying and new
___________________________________________
Jill Jones
Latest book:_Acrobat Music: New & Selected Poems_
Puncher & Wattmann, 2023
https://puncherandwattmann.com/product/acrobat-music-new-selected-poems/
I acknowledge the Kaurna people, traditional custodians and songmakers
of the land on which I live. Sovereignty was never ceded.
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