The Reconciling of Tāwhirimātea

I sat next to a sunburn

I sat next to a sea

His edges were salt

So strong the scent of water

Nape-neck-water

Life-begins water

Water-in-between water

Lovers-turgid-skin water

Emptied-out shell water

Water becoming snow water

Peach-dripping summer-sweet water

Grey-black sky lightning water

Sun-rising grass diamond water

Time holding still water

Crystalline ice-locked exhalation of mammoth

Ancient tooth, spore, fiber, skin, bubble, wing

Effluvium of life mated to water

Molecule to molecule

Lattice-net of arachnid delicacy, smaller, even smaller

Tentacled rings of heat frozen in water

O Sea, o Lover, nest, mountain-

shaker, cloud-maker

I am your albatross, I your lock-

picking crow who does not know

the prisoner she has released, meandering

aimlessly in your breath of sky laboring

bring my hands to your poisoned body

your chameleon crust dull with fever

your melanophores, your iridophores

your anthrophores and erythrophores

your myriad combinations

You cannot die. I will steal you

from your hospice room, carry you back

to your quiet places of coniferous green

I will sit amongst your oceans of glass creatures in their silicon symmetries

among your former loves, recline unmoved

amongst your powdered mountains of earth

I reach my fingers deep into your curls

I lay myself down close to your darkness

quake from my knees and invoke the waters

of your chemistry, unfold the invisible caverns

of your infinite limpidity. See

my eyes with the countenance of a lover

approaching.

— Noel Wingard

Tāwhirimātea is the god of weather and storms in Māori mythology. The Reconciling of Tāwhirimātea appeared previously in the summer 2022 edition of Willows Wept Review.

Wingard is a neurodivergent multidisciplinary artist who also holds a Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of Virginia. Her poems have been published in Willows Wept Review, Hail Muse, Etc!, and performed as interpretative dance internationally. She has a poem forthcoming in the Ground Literary Journal, is a two-time alum of The Ashbery Home School, and is a member of the Not-the-Rodeo Poets.

Noel is an award-winning photographer, and her art has been featured in multiple solo and group exhibits in the Mid-Atlantic area. She is currently the nez behind local natural and bespoke perfumery RELIQ and is a classically trained vocalist who holds several positions with WDBX’s (Carbondale, Illinois) program, Grandma’s Jazz.

All works copyright Noel Wingard and/or Andrew T. Smith