For Pat Lowther

A line of brows – raised

Wide gaze on world of woe and wonder

Wrongs not made right

Wounds not bandaged tight

Hearts not rendered whole

A line of lips curves – wide

A milkweed pod peels and pulses                 

A stone thrown high, lands level

A lacy bloom is blown – it flies

The sky, the sky

A vein – a line – is cut

The red rose spreads and edges darken

The lyric interrupted – – listen

The ears hear

The eyes see

That voice of smoke – a line

Extends and arcs

Spirals turn and cross

Ascending while descending

Nella Cotrupi

May 2010

* Published in: Heidi Greco and Ellen S. Jaffe, eds.  A Tribute to Pat Lowther on what would have been her 75th birthday. The Feminist Caucus, The League of Canadian Poets: 2011. p. 9.