Weather
In a year of extremes, the deepest
losses and the sweetest touches, I am
here, my eyes open every morning (against
my wishes) clear blue until the dark
sky moves in—the rain swift as a summer
storm, turbulent air, and broken hair
in high winds—just as suddenly, the weather
passes and the statues of all I have lost stand
in the clearing: my sister and brother
in the next world, the beautiful words
we chiseled at the end of their lives; and I
remember how love once looked like eyes
from across a crowded room, and my first-
born son will soon join hands with his own
beloved, and there is another first—my book
of poems to usher in this spring, after some
cold has passed—the work that circles grief, even
as I see (perhaps) at last, this journey is all about
weather, weathering the weather—warmth
and the worst of it—in varying measures.
The day has finally arrived: December 1st. Pre-sales are open for my first full-length poetry collection from Madville Publishing, Incidental Pollen. Sometimes, the universe gives us pain, and sometimes, beauty. I’m grateful this first book landed with Madville as the runner-up to the Arthur Smith Poetry Prize and that I received this good news at the beginning of a very painful year. I’ve lost two central people in my life this past year; someday, I’ll be able to write fully about these losses, but not yet. Today, I’m here to celebrate the collection dedicated to my father, my nephew, Jeffery, and my sister, Mary.
RUNNER-UP FOR THE 2023 ARTHUR SMITH POETRY PRIZE
Incidental pollen refers to pollen that collects on bees as they forage for nectar—like the cumulative life experiences we cannot help but carry. The hive serves as a thematic thread in this collection that explores the space between past and present, shame and redemption, grief and resilience. Poetic forms lend meaning—like the villanelle that captures the grief-driven magical thinking of the speaker. Are recurring red fox sightings visitations from her deceased father and nephew? Trauma and loss appear in these tonally rich and imagistic poems, but the arc ultimately centers on the search for belonging, the attempt to recreate home.
I am most grateful to Madville Publishing’s founding director, Kim Davis, and poetry editor extraordinaire, Linda Parsons, for creating such a stunning final product. If you order Incidental Pollen, I hope it moves you and speaks to you. These poems were many years in the making.
Ellen Austin-Li 