A poem: Indigo
dive down through the layers, swim back up
Article voiceover
Indigo
trying to be more loving
I send my daughter a text
which reads back as useless
electronic sputter
so I add a yellow cat emoji
which is not
summer-stripped gold leaves
spun floating in the frightening
aqua whorls of the Clutha
and I do not say
how my chest boils
the deep surges
of hidden canyon waterfalls
or how the banks
are thick with the strained silt
I’ve shed and shed and shed
I do not mention
that I wade, half drowned
through clots of spinning leaves
to the back flows of eddy lines
to say something
to say anything
like love
~ poem by Kirstie McKinnon, first published in The Otago Daily Times, Dunedin, New Zealand.
so beautiful poem Kirstie and I loved hearing it in your voice. ❤️
I felt chills as I read and listened to your reading of the poem, Kirstie. so many striking lines here, my favourites are "which is not /summer-stripped gold leaves /spun floating in the frightening /aqua whorls of the Clutha" and "and I do not say / how my chest boils / the deep surges /of hidden canyon waterfalls"
thank you for these beautiful words