Colette Tennant

Reimagining What It’s Like to be New
 
The first time a newborn whale calf,
lullabied by the deep wide water,
lifts toward the light,
breaks the salty surface and
fills its lungs with
an amazement of sky
and steamy breath.
 
Or an evening primrose
when it raises its face
for its first glimpse
of the strawberry moon
before luna moths nuzzle down
and dust its face
with powdery music
and nocturnal wonder.
 
Or an April morning
when a hummingbird
ventures out of the nest
on his surprising
whir of wheely wings
and as he nears the lilac,
realizes his beak
is long with magic.
 


Brief Music
 
I love the inky sounds
of night rain on the roof--
the tap of old typewriters flooded
with muted moon music
and star-clouded words.



I Want to Ask
 
I want to ask the hummingbird,
the one that greets me
outside the bay window,
the one that loves something about
our lilac even in winter,
I want to ask him
how he survived the ice storm
that hit here just before Valentine’s,
the one that decimated trees all over town.
 
The heavy thunder and percussion of
ice cracked branch after branch.
How did you make it little friend,
you, and your flitty lover?
Where were you when our world
glazed over and grew heavy,
and there were shhh, shhh, shhh sounds,
and then boom after boom that shook
our dreams all through the cold night?

Colette Tennant has three books of poetry: Commotion of Wings, Eden and After, and Sweet Gothic, just published. Her book, Religion in The Handmaid’s Tale: a Brief Guide, was published in 2019 to coincide with Atwood’s publication of The Testaments. Her poems have won various awards and have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes along with being published in various journals, including Prairie Schooner, Rattle, Southern Poetry Review, and Ireland Poetry Review. Colette is an English and Humanities Professor who has also taught art in Great Britain, Germany, and Italy.