Issue 4: Echoes

Major Key Change

Naomi St. Cyr

I’ve been eavesdropping on Fiona Apple. Every Single Night. Greedy for the teething gasps in the gaps between words. Staccato sucks and spits, stretches and caterwauls. A battle that has been bowing my spine since I could crawl. I upturn her Paper Bag and sift through the tangled pile of hardened chords. Mouthing along until these lines are all I can pronounce. I burrow inside my own brain, edging through the shrinking corridors. Slow Like Honey. Stripped bare of shelter after the November quake. Is there an after? I sift through a thrifted atlas and point at places that no longer exist. My therapist files intrusive memories somewhere far away. Fastens the lock until I cease pounding at the door. I ask her if I will ever heal. She tells me that we can only hear in the present. I nudge the dial in the vacuous space until the room rattles in rhythm with these incessant echoes. I wrap the cellular noise in tissue and slip it onto the highest shelf. Bind it with fine print—keep away from sunlight. Keep away from children. Keep away.

Motherland

Naomi St. Cyr

Place my fears
on your tongue. Your lead, pliable
against my nape. Applause
in my auricle. Place my dinner plate
in the frothing water. Brush
on the canvas. Place your bow
on my birthday. Birdseed
on the balcony. Place my fall
in your trust. My lesions
under your gauze. Place your influence
on the radio dial. Shoulder
on my cries. Place your wedding ring
on my fourth finger. Your blood
in my pulse. Arm
on my trembling arm. Place your key
in my palm. Our mantel
under your cup
of pysanky. Your hands
over my half-closed eyes. Misplace
your glasses. Your wallet. A reminder
for your appointment. Your soft body
in my car. My home. Place one shaking foot
in front of the other. Your heart
in my stomach. Your gold
in my safe. Your hands
on your chest.

Naomi St. Cyr is a writer and poet living on the traditional and unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples, including the Katzie, Kwantlen, and Semiahmoo First Nations. She gravitates towards reading and writing works on feminism, growing pains, mental health and social satire. Her poetry has been featured in SAPP, and she was shortlisted for the 2023 & 2024 Geist Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest.