Poem Composed while doing a Headstand
The fir cone I picked from a Corsican forest,
carried across an ocean
nestled between balls of socks, has fallen
from the grate and rests
where it meets my gaze
as I pose upside down in my daily practice.
I notice how it makes the perfect mandala,
its curved wooden petals
its skirt of hearts
and in the moment after chanting,
my thoughts thin and clear as tinsel,
I wonder how, each year
in the dim days before Christmas,
I have the gall to consider
spraying it gold.
Maggie Sawkins lives in Portsmouth and delivers creative writing projects in community settings. Her live literature production "Zones of Avoidance" won the 2013 Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry. Her most recent poetry collection, Many Skies Have Fallen, is published by Wild Mouse Press. You can find her here: www.hookedonwords.me.