rising

by Samantha Johnson

for Gracie

The sun wakes – 

wrens flit-skim

wing in fennel. 

Alive, these two 

pick through mist 

weeping fronds 

bathed in dew. 

Magnificent 

and common. 

Soon I’ll make 

coffee, toast rye – 

in your childhood 

home, visiting. 

Your warm breath

is steady – soft 

body beside.

Fat pink worms 

ask nothing – 

peppercorn hearts

praise early, a day

undiscovered.

Samantha Johnson (she/her) is a poet in Melbourne, Australia, working on her debut collection.  Her work explores grace and grief – apron strings of time spent in the domestic.  She writes on the unceded land of the Traditional Owners of the Kulin Nation and acknowledges their elders, culture and creativity.  You can find her latest work in Kissing Dynamite and Rabbit Journal, and tweeting words at @joyandcorduroy