Three Poems|Michele Mekel
Alluvium
Salt-laden, that sediment,
it sinks in—
embedding itself deep
within our psyches.
Like grains of sand or glitter,
there’s just no getting it all out.
Six months later,
an inevitable granule
makes itself known
in the weave of your black pants
worn to your niece’s princess-themed party
last spring—was it?—
or rubbed inadvertently
into the corner of your eye
by the towel taken to the beach
way back in July.
Perhaps, it’s that
which accounts
for the weight
of the soul.
Unseen
We know it
as the blind men
knew the elephant.
That is to say,
not at all.
Its bounds,
its berth
lost to our finite capacities
to embrace,
to behold.
But cling
to our certainty,
we do—
as if measurable
by tick marks on tape.
Companionship
Open the door if
only to let darkness in.
It, too, needs a friend.
Photo by Tom van Merrienboer on Unsplash
Author Bio
Living in Happy Valley, Michele Mekel wears many hats of her choosing: writer and editor; educator and bioethicist; poetess and creatrix; cat herder and chief can opener; witch and woman; and, above all, human. Her work has appeared in various academic and creative publications, including having her poetry featured on Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac. She is also a co-principal investigator for the Viral Imaginations: COVID-19 project (viralimaginations.psu.edu). Michele can be found on Instagram @ShaktiEnergy.
