Rachel, this is as wonderfully artful as it is devastatingly tragic. So many of the stanzas have at least three interpretations, if not more. The dandelion can be imagined literally, or as a general metaphor/simile to express a feeling, or specifically about an indigenous people's "permission" to be in their own land. The dirty word too, the missile... I'm getting a lot of specific AND universal readings from these words.
Then, there's so much of you personally in this too: the dog, the fire, the worn heart (I immediately thought of the cover of your book)...
The last stanza makes me want to cry.
Thank you for creating and sharing this. I hope you can find some sliver of relief via this expression. Thank you so much for communicating in that way only you can, combining the words (and the enjambment! and your actions as a human being outside poetry) to convey so much more than just the words.
Oh Rachel...your poem is wrenching...are you still in Morocco? What is it like to be there now? Or are you home? I love your work, sweetie! Keep writing, teaching, and creating community! Love, Julie
This is poignant and potent. Thank you for sharing.
Beautifully said Rachel. I relate line for line, emotion for emotion.
Spot on. Beautiful tragic and true. I concur with these feelings.
Thank you for expressing how I’m feeling — so few spaces where we can do this and your poetry moves me so.
Rachel, this is as wonderfully artful as it is devastatingly tragic. So many of the stanzas have at least three interpretations, if not more. The dandelion can be imagined literally, or as a general metaphor/simile to express a feeling, or specifically about an indigenous people's "permission" to be in their own land. The dirty word too, the missile... I'm getting a lot of specific AND universal readings from these words.
Then, there's so much of you personally in this too: the dog, the fire, the worn heart (I immediately thought of the cover of your book)...
The last stanza makes me want to cry.
Thank you for creating and sharing this. I hope you can find some sliver of relief via this expression. Thank you so much for communicating in that way only you can, combining the words (and the enjambment! and your actions as a human being outside poetry) to convey so much more than just the words.
Oh Rachel...your poem is wrenching...are you still in Morocco? What is it like to be there now? Or are you home? I love your work, sweetie! Keep writing, teaching, and creating community! Love, Julie
‘Like a shelter dog
unable to come
toward the
here, boy
or trust it’...
Rachel. 🫶🏼💔😔💌 sending so much love and wondering how and where you are. Thank you for this heartache, heartbreak, gut punch. Miss you x