Attempting to catch me
\nbefore I fall
\ninto sleep, you query
\n\u201cDid you know the basilisk
\nlizard can run on water
\nlike Jesus?\u201d
\nFlickering consciousness,
\nI sink the conversation
\nwith silence before it sets
\nsail in this sea of bedsheets,
\nwondering whether
\nJesus would have even
\nbothered if he knew God
\nwas to divine a lizard in his
\nimage\u00a0 \u2014suspension of science
\nto illustrate miracle. A cold-blooded,
\nbug-eyed sacrilege sprinting
\nslime-tailed over streams,
\nrivers and lakes, routinely defying
\nthe odds with every
\nsplashy step.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In the backyard archipelago of pots
\nyou green-thumb through the day,
\nmouth wide like a mason jar marvelling
\nat the flowering delights, making stakes<\/p>\n
out of retired badminton racquets,
\na severed garden hose you arc in-and-out of soil
\nlike a snake slithering around tiny tomato plants.<\/p>\n
I stay indoors watering the pages. Cultivating words.
\nSummoned only for celebratory occasions:
\ncutting of first tomato, opening of first snow pea.<\/p>\n
On rainy days, I lap up lamentations like a dog,
\ncoddle you through casualties: slug eyeing unripe tomato,
\nmildew frothing away precious pea plant.<\/p>\n
Twice a year I lend a hand relocating
\never-growing Christmas tree, domesticate it with you
\nfor winter, dress it up like a traffic light
\nbefore parking it back beside its potted friends.<\/p>\n
Only in yield, when a release of you triggers me,
\ndo I tend to garden: a mouth I plant kisses in,
\na seed from which I see in your eyes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
AIDAN CHAFE<\/strong> is the author of the chapbook Sharpest Tooth<\/em> (Anstruther Press). His poetry has appeared in journals such as Contemporary Verse 2<\/a><\/em>, Cordite Poetry Review<\/a><\/em>, The Paragon Journal<\/a><\/em>, Scrivener Creative Review<\/a><\/em>, and Sulphur<\/a><\/em>. He lives in Burnaby, BC.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jesus Lizard Attempting to catch me before I fall into sleep, you query \u201cDid you know the basilisk lizard can run on water like Jesus?\u201d Flickering consciousness, I sink the conversation with silence before it sets sail in this sea… Continue Reading
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