Carol Durak

Metabolic in Your Still Body

How did you rise this morning light-weight

as a dove? Your house is a ruin, and your

child, gone on his way. Will you go too?

Go down to the sea grass, the wind in your

burning brain? How did you rise when thrown?

On your way, on your way, something you

intuit has surfaced: the brown toad: the toad’s

jump—through night, through succulent

stalks and green thoughts, will you go too?

hearing your name grow quietly quiet.

In your head, your fossilized footprints, your

latent leaping. How did you rise weightless

as the young doe? Your house is a ruin,

and your child, gone on his way. Will you

go too? Go down through the sea grass,

through the wind in your burning brain. 

Will you go, metabolic in your still body?

Originally from Michigan, Carol Durak Iived in Maine for many years, where, in addition to writing, she made a living in book conservation, restoration, and fine binding. Leaving the East Coast in 2019, she now lives in northern New Mexico. Her poems have appeared in The Laurel Review, MOIRA, New Letters, and Permafrost. Her chapbook, Hymn Postponement, was published in the book, Three Chapbooks / Three Poets, by Flowstone Press, 2024.