Breath & Shadow
Summer 2021 - Vol. 18, Issue 3
"Biography"
written by
Colleen Anderson
Can my life be flattened
into a book
the memorable moments
high contrast black and white
not just scraped knees, a nosebleed
passing bullies whose taunts helped bind me
with more than skin?
Can my life really be thin as ink
applied in fine strokes to a veneer
that I will become?
Only tempestuous times
of lovers and loss
will place me onto a page.
When I am picked up
touched lightly and read
will you have any idea
of all those heartbeats
inconspicuous days spent living
moments of breaths indrawn
tasting the world
words said aloud
that are not written between the lines?
Colleen Anderson is a Canada Council and BC Arts Council recipient in writing. Her poetry has been nominated for the Aurora, Dwarf Stars and Rhysling Awards, and placed in the Crucible, Wax Poetry, Rannu and Balticon contests. Some recent and forthcoming works are in Penumbric, Space and Time, Dreams and Nightmares, and HWA Poetry Showcase. Colleen’s poetry collection, I Dreamed a World, will be published this year.