Issue 33: Miranda Lynn Barnes

The mysteries of moving water

any arbour

in a storm

the gnarls

are channels

in the bark

a tree outstretched

invites the fire

down through

every rotten scar

closer to the core

a lightning strike

a heavy rain

rending the cruciform

of her arms

just by its weight

Magdalena

did you spread

yourself open

too far did

you let the rain

of grace tear

you apart

did your leaves

tremble beneath

the wind of something

they called a greater

love

residual

what pollutants

can I trace to you

toxic tenant?

right here

the very year

your forest fire

emolliated tender cambium

a little circle scar

but the rings

kept forming

growing over

the ember

still resident in my tissue

Miranda Lynn Barnes is a poet from the US living near Nottingham, England. Her debut pamphlet, Blue Dot Aubade, was published with V. Press in 2020. Formulations, a chapbook of new poetic forms based in chemistry, was co-written with Stephen Paul Wren and published in March 2022 (Small Press/Tangent Books). Her poem ‘In the Pines’ was awarded second place in the Verve Poetry Competition 2023, judged by Forward Prize winner Kim Moore. Miranda’s poems are widely published in journals and anthologies, both in the UK and abroad. Find out more at https://mirandalynnbarnes.wordpress.com/

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