Linda King

shadowgraced

these days you need a language
that is bone deep    a sea
that is all waves and rainstutter

a nesting ground
for good intentions    words
that surge into the heart’s blood

in your search for meaning
you know that the odds
are stacked against you

the verbs have too many edges
they leave you shadowgraced
inside a ramshackle alphabet

where metaphor
is merely a name
that belongs to something else                                              

a kind of shifting wisdom
in a window that faces
the backdrop of reality

where all the light allowed
combines to make
a darkness

Linda King is the author of five poetry collections including Reality Wayfarers (Shoe Music Press, 2014) and No Dimes for the Dancing Gypsies (BlazeVOX Books, 2016) Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals in Canada and internationally. King lives and writes on The Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada.