It hasn’t rained in days
spinning
Earth
is a ring of fire
blistered skin
leads to scabs
that cannot heal
to survive
we animals
in the garden
emerge from the dark
lapping up water
from a broken fountain
the plants observe with envy
they pulse with thirst, straining
frightened
by the heat
awaiting a deliverance
that will never come.
TAK Erzinger is an American/Swiss poet and artist with a Colombian background. Her poetry has been featured by journals at Indiana University, Cornell University, McMaster University, the University of Baltimore and more. Erzinger’s poetry collection “At the Foot of the Mountain,” (Floricanto Press 2021), won the University of Indianapolis, Etchings Press Whirling Prize for 2021 for best nature poetry book and was a finalist at The International Book Awards 2022 and at the Willow Run Book Awards and Eyelands Book Awards. Her latest poetry collection “Tourist” (Sea Crow Press 2023) was a finalist at the Eyelands Book Awards 2023. Erzinger was a writer-in-resident at the Art Centre Padula, Residency Programme summer 2023. She lives on the foothills of the Alps in Switzerland with her husband and two cats.
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