Do you know that irrational urge
to climb a tree?
To settle in the purple wake
of day?
poem and photo by Rachel McAlpine
secrets
Once upon a time
Once upon a time there was
a once upon a time
and it lived in a cottage
with a mother and a father.
It was grabbed by an eagle
and married to a monster
and is living ever after
once upon a forest and a time.
– – – – – –
Rachel McAlpine
(Image from Rod and Gun, 1898 via Internet Archive Book Images)
In my skull
My skull is an occupied
sofa. When someone
makes a home in your head—
no room for poems.
– – – –
Rachel McAlpine
Healthy Things
I should never be sick
’cause we have Healthy Things
(says Ruby).
They’re little tiny small things
and they’re a lion. Here, I’ll draw one for you.
There are arrows pointing to their tummy,
with skin dots, pale, very hard to see.
You should always have one a day
so you don’t get sick.
Well, I’ve got the hiccups inside my tummy
so I should have had more.
They taste like — how can I describe it?
Say you were cooking a Healthy Thing
and you just needed two ingredients:
an orange and some salt.
You squeeze out the juice and mix it up,
pour it into a salt bowl
and it turns into a a Healthy Thing.
Hm, how can I describe it?
It tastes like lemon with sour salt.
They’re called Healthy Things
because they’re Healthy
and because they’re Things.
*
Rachel McAlpine
Advice from Ruby, aged 4 or 5
In the olden days
Sue is not a burglar girl
(says Ruby).
Her father was born
in the olden days.
Probably they didn’t have
burglars then
but something worse
like pirates
or deadly weapons aliens.
Deadly means
really good
and not useless.
*
Rachel McAlpine
From a story told by Ruby, aged 4 or 5 or 6
In praise of nostalgia
Nostalgia has a bad name.
Nasturtiums. Neuralgia.
Think backwards without blame:
we will never
be the same.
*
Rachel McAlpine
More secrets
Ancestors surround you
with a calm possessive air.
Nobody knows your neck squeaks.
Nobody knows your heart
is a bowl of poems.
*
Rachel McAlpine
Secrets
If anyone tells your secret
let it be you
and let it be true.
*
Rachel McAlpine
Poems in the wild—Rachel McAlpine 