Marjorie Moorhead
Writing from the NH/VT border, originally finding her voice in poetry to examine a long and formative survival journey, Marjorie Moorhead’s poems are collected in the two chapbooks Survival:Trees, Tides, Song (FLP 2019) and Survival Part 2 Trees, Birds, Ocean, Bees (Duck Lake Books 2020), in many anthologies, and literary journals. Recent work is in/forthcoming from Verse-Virtual, Moist Poetry Journal, Journal of Expressive Writing anthology. A full collection is forthcoming in 2022. Much of Marjorie’s work can be accessed at https://marjoriewritespoetry.wordpress.com/places-you-can-see-my-work/
Beyond the Pale
Woe is the coral reef
who chokes in damaged waters.
Imagine trying to breathe
in a house of smoke.
Imagine being caressed by poison
palms; embraced by toxic arms
and there’s no escape.
Imagine you’ve graciously
housed visitors from all walks, all ways,
sheltered in your corridors, welcomed
in the nooks and crannies; a community
of travelers whose paths crisscross, interwoven
to create a sustaining fabric for all,
but your place is invaded and the life choked out.
Bycatch and ghost gear bring about ruin.
Host and provider no more, you cannot survive
relentless siege and plunder. Bleached
to a white surrender. you sway
unhealthy now in an alien galaxy
of floating forever plastics.
Sheila-Na-Gig online 