Awareness

Written By Lauren Elise

The grass is overgrown in the garden-

creeping up to six feet high,

the blades and I, eye to eye

all of us reaching for the sky.

It’s been awhile since I’ve been home.

No black-eyed-susan to check-in with;

Her season long over, and her visions too-

I hope she forgives me for what I missed.

Dead dogs in the dirt, six feet under

mounds of ground stacked all around

the decaying bodies, I can’t bare to look:

they’re not truly there anymore.

Damn my mind. I can’t grasp that.

I will never fully grasp what’s been lost

as the cycle and seasons keep on-

There’s a slither under my boot.

A small black snake, seeking a patch of sun

Coiled, now disturbed, in her own home.

 

Inspired by:

This poem was inspired by Emily Dickinson's "Hope is the Thing With Feathers" (c. 1861) along with "I Felt a Funeral in my Brain" (c. 1861)- particularly with how her work calls upon the garden and grapples with death. I feel that the unkempt garden is a great metaphor for growth- how messy it can look from the outside, but how ultimately rewarding it can be down the line. 

Lauren Elise

Lauren Elise Fisher is a theatre artist, writer, and Jewish witch based out of Bridgeport, CT. She holds a B.A. in Theatre Studies from the University of Connecticut and is an alumna of the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center’s National Music Theatre Institute. Collectively her training is in: stage management, puppetry, acting, vocal performance, and writing. 

As a theatre artist, Lauren has had the joy and privilege to work on off-Broadway, opera, and regional circuits. She has been a part of various theatrical regional and world premieres for both plays and musicals and is currently the resident production stage manager at the Downtown Cabaret Theater in Bridgeport, CT. 

 Her recently published poems may be found in CultureCult’s Spring Offensive anthology and the Afterpast Review.

When Lauren isn’t in the midst of a rehearsal process or writing, she can be found flipping tarot cards and yelling at G-d about the general state of the world. She tells herself it’s a healthy coping mechanism (but the jury is still out on that). 

Keep up with Lauren on Instagram & Twitter: @AllFishSwim.

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