Two Pieces
Jordan Hanson
We Cannot Choose but Weep
After John Everett Millais, “Ophelia”
“Larded all with sweet flowers
Which bewept to the grave did not go
With truelove showers.” (Hamlet, 4.5.38-40)
Your eyes are open, watery blue
Reflecting the last thing you will see:
Sky winks through green
Willow branches, the same
That held you while you cried.
Their fingers wave a sad goodbye
As your hair whirls,
Waterlogged among scattered garlands.
Poppies, pansies,
Withered violets,
Long purple dead men’s fingers.
They swirl together and drag down your skirts
With remembrance,
Repentance,
Sorrow.
Some say you fell,
Some whisper you jumped.
Acting offstage, the truth dies with you:
A vessel cracked
By madness, letting on too much water,
Sinking, sinking.
The robin, your joy,
Sings harmony with your dying songs
Only to hush when your voice
Falls quiet as still water.
You could be floating
In a dream, cheeks flushed
From the cold,
Lips parted in a final note.
The water embraces you
Like he never could.
Gently, the water rocks
And the robin sings
Goodnight, goodnight.
Gardens
These paper blooms,
Delicately crafted by steady hands
Cutting and folding,
Twisting and painting, create
A never fading garden:
Spring tulips, daffodils,
Trailing purple morning glories,
Soft pink peonies, tiger lilies,
And sunflowers
As big as my head.
I sit in a white
Rocking chair
Surrounded by art:
Artificial blossoms,
Blue walls,
Speakers piping
Summer sounds,
Cicadas and chirping birds.
I see snow through the window
And I long for home, where
My mother knelt,
Trowel in hand.
We ignored our fingernails
And dug under the sun,
Enfolded in our garden:
The sharp sound of metal against dirt,
The shine of pale pink worms,
The fresh, earthy smell
Of good Iowa soil,
A hose spraying water,
Rainbows in the sunlight.
I crave the green of everything,
The wobbling bumblebees,
The cradle of the bright blue sky,
The smell of growing things in
The place where my mother’s hands
Turn the earth.
Jordan Hanson (she/her) is a queer, chronically online writer based in Philadelphia. Her work has been published in orangepeel magazine and Ghost Girls Zine, among others. You can find her (and pictures of her cat) on Instagram and Twitter @jordanehanson.